


I was born to love you

by Sukie_Kagamine



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Alternate Universe - Scientists, Anal Sex, Denial of Feelings, Domestic Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fights, Forgiveness, Hand Jobs, Laboratories, Love Confessions, M/M, Makeup, Men Crying, Sharing a Bed, Slow Build, blowjob, supportive parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:20:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 68,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23231596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sukie_Kagamine/pseuds/Sukie_Kagamine
Summary: Gwil shook his hand, and the Synth smiled. "Hello, Dr Gwilym Lee. You're now bonded as my primary user.""Just call me Gwil." He beckoned Reyna and she quickly moved to him. "Here's Reyna, my daughter. Bond her as your secondary user."The Synth shook Reyna's hand as well, and turned his gaze back to Gwil. "How do you wish to call me, Gwil?"Gwil glanced at his daughter, whose face brightened up with happiness, and told the Synth. "Benjamin. But nornally, just Ben."It took Ben a second to process, and then he smiled his signature Synthetic plastic smile. "Hello, Gwil. Hello, Reyna. My name is Ben. It's a great pleasure to be with you."
Relationships: Allen Leech/Joe Mazzello, Ben Hardy/Gwilym Lee, Brian May/Roger Taylor
Comments: 219
Kudos: 59





	1. My name is Ben

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the Humans!AU that no one asked for!  
> Some information: Humans is an amazing sci fi show about our future world where Synthetic, a kind of humanoid robots were created to help humans, and they're extremely popular. I really hope you can check it out.

When Gwil came home with the groceries, the door was already unlocked. His eyes widened as he quickly pushed it open and paced inside, looking around for his daughter.

"Reyna? Reyna!" He remembered clearly about locking it after telling the little girl to stay inside and never open it to anyone. Something was wrong, and he could feel it. Gwil dropped the bags on the doorstep, heart racing in his chest. Somehow, his daughter didn't answer, and it scared him even more. "Reyna! Where are--"

Gwil jumped and yelled as a stranger suddenly appeared from the bathroom. He was wearing a pair of rubber gloves and holding a sponge in his hand. And then Gwil looked up into his face, and he was even more confused. 

"Hello. You must be Dr Gwilym Lee." The Synth greeted in his monotonous voice and a plastic smile. Having a strange synth in your house is not as terrifying as having a burglar or a thief, because he knew that synths never hurt humans, but Gwil wasn't sure how he got in here. 

"Who--what--"

"Alexa, your ex wife is visiting your daughter in her room." The synth continued, soulless green eyes stared into his. "She brought me here to give your house a clean up."

"Good God." Gwil groaned and turned around to pick up his groceries bags. Alexa gave him zero notice about her visit today, and now she was bringing her own robot to clean up his house without saying anything. It's obvious that she was mocking his cleanliness, and it pissed him off more than anything.

"Dr Lee, I can take care of the groceries for you." The dumb synth said again, taking off his gloves. Gwil froze for a second, looking at him, and then left the bags on the floor. Great, Alexa replaced him with a robotic dick, now she's replacing his daughter's father with a robotic cleaner. 

He strode inside, heading to where his daughter's room should be, blood boiling. She clearly knew how he felt about synths, and still brought that stupid blond one here anyways. What happened to the other one, he wondered. The one that she fucked and then chose over him and Reyna.

"Reyna." He opened the door. From the bed, his little girl was setting up a whole tea party with her teddy bears, Barbie dolls and her mother on the other side. The girl looked at him and her face broke into a bright smile.

"Daddy!"

She jumped from her bed and ran into his arms. He quickly swept her up and kissed her brown locks. "I told you not to open the door for anyone. I was only out for a minute."

"But Daddy, it was Mommy!" She whined, and he sighed. He hated that he had to act like he was on good terms with Reyna's mother after everything they had been through. 

"Yeah, yeah, just--be more careful next time, okay?" He put her down and let her come back to the tea party. Gwil turned to his ex wife, who was staring at him from the bed, and gestured her to come outside with him. She nodded and followed him out of the room.

When he made sure they were far away enough that his daughter wouldn't catch a thing, he crossed his arms and glared at her. "Why didn't you tell me anything about coming to visit? I was worried sick! I thought someone broke into the house!"

"I'm sorry, alright?" Alexa rolled her eyes. "It's just simultaneous. I suddenly had the urge to hold her in my arms. I miss her, and I was at the front door before I could realize."

Gwil huffed, dropping his arms. He was mad, of course, but he couldn't stay angry at her reasons. He always wanted Reyna to have a loving parent. Alexa was better than no mom at all. And at least sometimes she still missed Reyna. He opened his mouth to tell her to go back and spend some more time with their daughter when the door creaked, and the synth Alexa brought here slowly walked into the room with a washcloth, preparing to clean the kitchen table. The synth didn't even look at them when he came in. Its mind was set to only see its ultimate goal: to clean the house, and its focus was clear.

"But then what about this robot?" Gwil snapped his head back to scowl at his ex wife. "Did you simultaneously bring him here too?"

"Well, he's--" Alexa rubbed her forehead. "I just remembered Reyna saying her room was quite messy, so I thought taking him here would help when I spend some time with her."

"Her room's not a mess." Gwil blinked. "When did she tell you that?"

"A month ago, Gwilym." The woman sighed. "You clearly spent too much time with your experiments that you forgot you have a daughter to look after."

"What do you mean?" He stepped closer. "I look after her more than you did, Alexa. I know I'm not the most perfect father in the world, but at least I tried to be better for her. I didn't abandon her."

"I'm not saying that you're a better parent than I am. I know my place, alright?" She raised her hands defensively. "But admit it, you're getting busier and busier these days, being professor and working at the lab and all. Reyna hadn't eaten a hot meal for weeks. She told me you keep buying Chinese food all the time."

"I know. I'm balancing it." He lowered his voice. "I bought groceries. I'm cooking for her tonight."

"No, it's not necessary. You have your career, and you need to make money." Alexa raked her hand through her hair. "That's why I brought him. He's a gift from me. The Synth."

Gwil gaped in shock. A synth? This synth? He turned his head to look at the robot standing in a spotless kitchen, which was all greasy just a few minutes ago, and he--it was starting to prepare dinner with the food Gwil had just bought from the store. He couldn't believe it. His ex wife bought him a synth?

"Here's the instruction and everything. I haven't set up anything yet, he's still brand new and you can become his primary user right now." She pulled out a carton box from her bag and put it on the table. The box was pure white with the logo of the manufacturer on the lid, and a picture of a very happy weird-eye robot under it, pouring a cup of coffee. Alexa opened the box to reveal a small book of instructions, some charging cables and other spare parts of the robot. 

"Alexa, are you _seriously_ \--"

"Gwil, hear me out on this." She cut him off. "I know you're still mad at me that I...did what I did. With our old Synth. Behind your back."

"I don't know, should I?" Gwil tilted his head. "Seeing my wife distance from me because she preferred to fuck a robot. It's kinda weird, don't you think?"

"Gwil, you have no idea. I was full of insecurities, okay?" The woman's voice shook. "You were bright and brilliant and a perfect husband, while my career keep sloping and everyone thought I didn't deserve you and I came for you only because of your fortune. Your parents, your friends, even my friends. I was afraid that you'd judge me for being a gold digger of a mother and wife. I was stressed for years. I was crushed under the pressure. But when I'm with him, he's… He was never judgmental."

Gwil swallowed, stayed silent. It had been the first time he really took his time to talk to his ex wife, really talk, about what happened. About the things that tore them apart. His heart stung at the thought that he never actually let Alexa have a chance to explain. It was just too painful to look at your wife sleeping with a Synth after wondering for so long why she kept avoiding you. He felt betrayed and hurt. He never really cared why, all he did was bringing Reyna out of the house and filing a divorce without a question. Alexa agreed to sign the divorce paper immediately after that.

"Why--why didn't you tell me?" Gwil sighed, burying his face into his hands. "I could have stopped them. We could have survived that."

"You were too busy, sweetheart." Alexa smiled, eyes shining with unshed tears. "I don't want to get in the way of your career and research. And I was--I was too tired. There was nothing you could do even if you knew. I was tired of worrying if I could ever be enough, if you'd be bored of me, if you'd realize that your parents were right about me being a disgrace to your family. I guess ending everything soon would be the best for both of us."

Gwil stared into the distance for a while, trying not to let the sound of Alexa's sniffing break his heart. He shouldn't be wondering if he could do everything differently now. 

"Where's the old robot, anyway? Are you still staying with him?" He suddenly asked, and his ex wife chuckled.

"Stop it, you old man. It's not a robot. It's called a Synthetic, a higher, more advanced form of technology. Seriously, it's the key to our future. Super intelligent, multi-functional, and completely reliable. It's not like a car or a dishwasher, Gwil."

Gwil raised his eyebrow.

"No, of course not! I--I found someone." She blushed. "He's very nice."

"That's great. I'm glad Reyna's mother is happy." Gwil squeezed her hand. "You can come and visit her more often, I won't make a fuss."

"Thank you, Gwil." She nodded. "And this is your Synth now. Trust me, he can get a lot off your plate and Reyna can be happier. She wouldn't even notice he's not a real person. He can be her friend."

Right. And soon he could replace Gwil as a father, too, and then Reyna would grow up looking up to a robot and he would be forgotten. God, for a scientist, he sure had an imagination.

"And I'm feeling better when I know that he's here protecting you and Reyna." She whispered. "I know how dangerous your researches can be."

"Dr Lee and Miss Thompkins, dinner is ready. Should I get little miss Reyna to our meal?" The Synth's voice startled them both, and Gwil turned to look at him. The blond haired synth stood perfectly straight next to the kitchen table, where he had set up a restaurant standard three course meal and waiting for them to enjoy. To be honest, Gwil was still creeped out by how Synths acted around humans. But the food smelled divine.

"Yeah, sure. Get her for me, please." Gwil said, but Alexa stood up from her seat. 

"I have to go, Gwil. You should spend more time with Reyna. She really misses you. I've taken enough of your time."

And with that, she left. Gwi wasn't sure if she could feel his gaze following her, but he stayed silent. It was too late between them now. They had chosen their own paths - and his path was looking after Reyna. Loving her, raising her to be a good and happy woman, and being with her through the hardest parts of her life. And now, he supposed, he had someone there to help him achieve that.

"Oh my God, who is he, Daddy?" Reyna squealed when she bolted into the kitchen, making him laugh. "He's so handsome! But his green eyes are kinda weird. Is he having dinner with us?"

"Well, he's staying here with us for a while. He's going to help us with the housework and other stuff." Gwil looked at the Synth, now preparing the table for them. He decided not to hide the truth from her. "He's a Synthetic. Do you know what a Synthetic is, Reyna? It's--"

"Oh my God, a Synthetic?" The girl started jumping in excitement. "I love them! I learned about them at school! They look like us, but their minds are like computers, they are really strong and fast. They're made to take care of us and protect us. But they have these different orange eyes. I like Ben's green eyes more."

"Ben?" Gwil smiled at her. "Did you just name him for me?"

"Yes! He's ours now, isn't he?"

"Well, that's a great name. Why did you choose it?"

"One of my best friends is named Benjamin. I like playing catch with him a lot, but I haven't seen him since we moved." Her eyes lowered. 

"It's alright, sweetie." Gwil stroke her hair. "Now this Benjamin is going to be your new friend."

"Yay! I also think it's a cool name." The girl grinned, and she pulled Gwil's hand to take him closer to where Ben was standing. "Tell him that, Daddy! Tell him his name is Ben now."

"Okay." Gwil smiled at her, and then picked up the instruction box to find out the way to set up the Synth. Huh. It said there that he needed to restart the Synth for a second, which was touching the power spot under his chin twice.

Gwil stood facing the Synth, and he looked up at Gwil with his clueless, confused green eyes. The book said he was a special limited line of new Synth that had a different eye color, and was even more intelligent than any other model before him. And God, was he gorgeous.

Gwil touched his chin, and the Synth's eyes closed immediately, head lowering. From behind him, Reyna gasped in surprise. He touched it again, and slowly, the Synth's eyes open, looking at him. He held out a hand to Gwil.

"Your DNA is needed for security reasons. None of your information will be shared to a third party."

Gwil shook his hand, and the Synth smiled. "Hello, Dr Gwilym Lee. You're now bonded as my primary user."

"Just call me Gwil." He beckoned Reyna and she quickly moved to him. "Here's Reyna, my daughter. Bond her as your secondary user."

The Synth shook Reyna's hand as well, and turned his gaze back to Gwil. "How do you wish to call me, Gwil?"

Gwil glanced at his daughter, whose face brightened up with happiness, and told the Synth. "Benjamin. But nornally, just Ben."

It took Ben a second to process, and then he smiled his signature Synthetic plastic smile. "Hello, Gwil. Hello, Reyna. My name is Ben. It's a great pleasure to be with you."

**_To be continued_ **


	2. I'm yours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's officially my birthday! I'm so glad I spent this entire year stanning Ben, writing Harlee fics and having the time of my life. And especially knowing you guys! You are the motivation for me to finish my fics and share my imaginations. I'm so proud to have you guys as my readers!

"So your ex wife cheated on you to have sex with a muscular blond haired Synth behind your back, so you divorced her," Joe spoke every word slowly, as if he was still processing the facts, "but now she gave you another muscular blond haired Synth as a gift, and you decided to keep it."

The redhead man stared at Gwil, breathed heavily for a second, and then screamed. " _ **WHAT THE FUCK, GWIL?**_ "

"Jeez, calm down. Reyna's sleeping." Gwil sighed and groaned. On the other side of the room, at the corner, Ben was sitting in a chair perfectly straight and still, eyes closed, and a cable plugged into the socket from his hip. He was in his low power usage mode to charge in his battery, but Gwil was sure that the Synth could pick up everything they said. He just didn't care.

After the first few days of getting used to having a Synth in the house again, Gwil started to realize how wrong his decision was. And the worst thing is, it wasn't even Ben's fault. He was just acting like he was built: the way he talked was monotonous, short and had even less feelings than Siri, because his main point was always clear. _The dinner is ready. I need your laundry basket. I'm coming home in twenty minutes. I'm sorry, I don't understand your question. Hello, Gwilym. Hello, Reyna. I don't understand your question._ The way he moved, walking around, picking things up, they were always fast, precise and just purely robotic, removing all of the excess movements in order to save battery. He had gorgeous, bright green eyes, but yes, like any other Synths, they were soulless and unreadable. Everything about him screamed robot, and it struck Gwil how similar he was to Edward, the Synth that Alexa used to sleep with. For years, Gwil lived with Edward inside his home, considering him nothing more than a machine that helped Alexa with the housework, so she could have more time for Reyna, for herself, and him. But she kept distancing herself, being so cold to him, leaving him with only his work to care about. It was none of their faults, really. Edward and Ben were just doing what they were told, and they did it well. It was just his memories coming with Edward were all horrible, and now everytime Ben did some slightest thing that reminded him of Edward and Alexa, he couldn't stand being in the same room with the Synth.

"Seriously, what were you _thinking_?!" Joe gritted through his teeth, slapping his own forehead. "Even I freaked out when I first saw him, are you seriously telling me this Synth doesn't remind you for one bit of the thing Alexa used to _fuck_?"

"I mean, he does," Gwil admitted, "But I can't return him. He actually helps out a lot, I haven't eaten anything that good until he came and--"

"Then buy another Synth who _doesn't_ look like your ex wife's type!" Joe scoffed. For the years he had worked with this giraffe of a man, he had seen him going through all sorts of betrayal and sadness with the ex wife. He only came back to his usual self for a year and then suddenly the woman reappeared and turn his life into a mess again. Joe was just angry. "God, no wonder you look like a scared little mouse in your own house. Awkwardness is in the _air_ , man."

"Reyna's really bonded with him, okay?" Gwil finally let out. "She adores him. He cooks for her, cleans her room, plays tea party with her, even helps her with her homework. If I take him away, she'll _kill_ me for real."

"So now you just let him replace you as a father too." Joe mumbled tiredly. He was just out of words to say. 

"You know that's not true!" Gwil protested. "You know how hard I work these days. We're about to get to the bottom of our research! I can't postpone it to go do the laundry or vacuum the house. I need him here. Reyna's a lot nicer when he's here too."

"Well have you spent more time with her ever since he came?" Joe crossed his arms. Gwil deflated in his seat. "Or he's just another way for you to defend yourself? Oh, he's a great helper so I don't have to care about Reyna anymore. Oh, he looks like my ex wife's fuckmate but I guess that's just another reason for me to neglect my own _daughter_."

Joe stopped when he saw how Gwil moved away, trying to shield himself from the accusations. He sighed. "I'm sorry. It went to far. I shouldn't have--"

"No, no, you're right." The taller man mumbled, glancing at the Synth still sitting in the corner. "I'm a horrible father. Maybe Alexa was even better than me."

"No, that' not what I meant!" Joe squeezed his shoulders, staring intensely into Gwil's eyes. He looked so much like a kicked puppy it hurt. His blue eyes were confused and full of disappointment. "You're not gonna let Alexa have the custody. I just need you to take your time off work more. I can cover for you. Reyna needs father, not a Synth. The project isn't going anywhere."

"I know, it's just we're so _close_ \--"

" _Stop_. Stop, okay?" Joe groaned. "One day you're going to wake up from your research realizing you've lost your daughter if you keep on going like this. Do you want her to grow up talking in monotone and moving like robots? She's tiny, Gwil. She's gonna copy the things she sees. Right now you're avoiding both the Synth and her."

"We call him Ben." And right now, Ben was the one cooking for Reyna, tying her shoelaces every morning before school, and reading her bedtime stories before bed. Even a robot was a better than him as a father.

"Oh, who cares!" Joe rolled his eyes. "Everything coming from your ex wife is garbage. I honestly don't understand why you still want to keep him here."

"Fine, I'll spend less time at the lab, just--stop attacking my Synth, okay?" Gwil raised his hands. "Alexa really cares. And it wasn't entirely her fault that we fell apart."

Joe pressed his lips together and breathed out. He gave Gwil a small hug. "You self-blaming dumbass. _Stop_ doing that to yourself."

The man just shook his head and turned aside to pick up his drink. He had been thinking about it all the time ever since Ben started staying with the two of them. He decided to ignore the resemblance between Ben and his old Synth at first, trying to start everything over, seeing how excited Reyna was over him, but Gwil could only do it for a few days. It took him so long to finally forget the disappointment that drowned him when he first found out. Ben was beautiful, like all of the Synths before him, and like Edward. Did Alexa have any other means when she chose Ben to give him and Reyna? Was she trying to hurt him back for the years of her suffer?

"Okay, so if you really want to keep him," Joe finally said, after a while of eyeing him worriedly. "Then you have to face him, for real. You can't avoid him forever. Reyna needs you to be here."

Gwil nodded. He glanced at Ben again, still awfully still and quiet, and gripped the drink tighter in his hands. 

"Hey, if you're worried about the way he operates will be too much for you to bear," Joe's voice was more gentle than anything Gwil had ever heard. "You can just start with looking at him up close. Really look. Once you're used to his look, it'll be easier."

Gwil looked at Joe, his smile tight but grateful. "Thanks, man. You're the only one that's always here for me."

"Yeah. And then you keep on thinking about your ex wife." The redhead man rolled his eyes.

Gwil laughed and shoved his shoulder. They both got into a fit of tipsy laughter before Joe slowly draped over the couch they were sitting in and refused to get up.

"I'm staying here for the night now, Lee. Leave me alone." His weird, loud, annoying and amazing friend groaned, and squished his face into a pillow. Before Gwil could say anything, the snores from Joe stopped him. The drinks they had together before talking about any difficult topics, like Synths and broken marriages, always helped to make everything easier. It's just Joe was one of the most lightweight people Gwil knew. He was just slightly tipsy, and the man was already on the floor.

Gwil sighed and shook his head slowly before getting up to find a blanket for his friend. It's no point trying to move him to the guest room. When he finished tucking Joe in, (most of the times Joe was like a child, only when it comes to desperate measures that Joe became a badass child and solved all problems in Gwil's life) he turned around to get back to his bedroom before his gaze suddenly fell onto the Synth sitting in the corner, and his heart beat fast. He stopped midway, thinking about Joe's words before he passed out, fidgeting for a second. Ben was sitting there in the exact same position he always sat when he was charging, eyes closed, head hanging low like he was dozing off, and even from the distance, Gwil could see the long, blond eyelashes. Well, he couldn't stand interacting with the Synth when he was working, so now he's charging and staying still, Gwil should take a chance to look at him. It was strange how that sounded, but he never actually looked at Ben up close since they first had him. Gwil was too busy avoiding the Edward he saw in Ben.

_Maybe…_ Gwil slowly stepped towards Ben, eyeing him. It didn't hurt like he thought it would. Of course, it did hurt, it did remind him of his failed marriage, but when he stare straight into the Synth's face… He sat down in front of Ben and looked. Just looked, closely. He could get use to this. He could look at Ben and not see the mistakes in his past. 

Soft looking blond hair, long lashes, high cheekbones, straight nose and sharp jawlines. And full, pink lips that was definitely the masterpiece of his designer. He was handsome, manly and strong looking, but still had some lingering softness and prettiness that drew people in. Gwil wondered what it was like to be born gorgeous and never change his entire life. Sure, a Synth's time was only for a few years, but…

Gwil raised his hand to hover above the flesh of his cheek, trying to make out the difference between his human skin and the Synth's. He was a scientist and still amazed by how realistic a humanity's creation can be. It was impossible to distinguish, not even by the heat radiating off Ben's skin. Not even by the soft, tiny hairs in his pores. He wasn't just gorgeous, he also looked human. Gwil's palm touched him.

"Is there anything you'd like me to do, Gwil?" Ben's eyes snapped open and he jumped. "I'm sorry for startling you. I have to be alert at all times. Any kind of touch has to be reported to my primary user."

"I'm your primary user." Gwil raised his eyebrows, and Ben nodded. Jesus, how can artificial irises could be so realistically green? Gwil could see his own reflections in there. It distracted him.

"Yes. I'm in the low power mode, but I'm always alert. If anyone touches me, I have to report to you."

"Oh." Gwil didn't read the entire instruction book. Can't you blame him? "That's uh… nice, I guess? But any kind of touch? Like, even the _smallest_ thing?"

"Yes, even the smallest touch." Ben said, staring into his eyes. "You're my primary user, and I'm securely bonded to you. No one else is allowed to touch, or do anything to me. I will never let anyone do anything that you don't want, or know."

Gwil pressed his lips together. He raised his hands to cup Ben's face, caressing his cheeks. It's been a while since he was this close to someone other than his daughter and Joe. "I guess you'll never sleep with someone behind my back, will you?"

  
  


"Never." Ben replied immediately. His green eyes looking up at Gwil, almost innocently. He nodded, covering Gwil's hands in his. "I'm yours."


	3. He would be very sad if you don't

Everything was still awkward among them, but Reyna was too young to notice, and Ben didn't have any emotion, so basically it was just Gwil fumbling with himself. But nothing made him happier than spending time with his daughter without worrying about his research at the lab.

"Look at them!" Reyna clapped excitedly when Gwil started sprinkling some fish food into the small fishbowl. "They miss you Daddy!"

The colorful tiny little fish swarmed up to eat, and his daughter laughed cheerfully. It had been a while since he actually took some time to feed his pets and watch them. They were small, sparkling with red, blue and pink, and he could feel the excitement in his daughter's voice seeping inside him. 

"Yes, Daddy miss them too." He ruffled the girl's hair. "I promise I'll take better care of them from now on."

"That's amazing! Ben won't have to feed them alone anymore." The girl hugged his leg.

Ben's name still sent a small uncomfortable flash of memories inside his head, but he was getting used to it. The Synth was on the other side of the room, taking care of the house work as usual. It seemed like he never stopped working, there was always something to do in their household that kept him on his feet. Gwil felt rather guilty for neglecting it for so long. He had made a complete mess, but he never stayed home long enough to notice it.

"Well, I planned on taking you out to the Aquarium today, but since the forecast said it's going to rain, how about we just help Ben out a little this morning, yeah?" He crouched down to Reyna's level, squishing her cheeks. She squealed.

"Yay!" She was obsessed with Ben, and he found that adorable. He could feel her forming a little crush. Joe would be really concerned if he knew Reyna had a crush on a Synth, but Gwil didn't mind. The girl knew exactly what a Synth was. She was just a little confused. She'd understand when she got older.

Reyna quickly ran to where Ben was vacuuming in the living room and Gwil followed her. He needed to face his fears and accept that Ben was an essential part of their lives now. His daughter called the Synth loudly over the noise of the vacuum cleaner. "Ben! Ben!"

The Synth stopped the cleaner and looked up from where he was working. "Yes, Reyna?"

"Daddy said we can help!"

"It's alright, Gwil." Ben looked at Gwil, green eyes stared into his soul, making him shiver. "You can relax. I can handle this."

"I know, I just want to teach Reyna how to do the housework." Gwil sucked in a breath, tried not to let his nervousness get into his voice. "I won't let you do everything and let she grow up spoiled."

Ben's expression didn't change, still empty and blank, but he nodded and let them get closer. Gwil got to where the vacuum cleaner was standing and started to explain how it worked to Reyna. 

"Here, you push this button first to start the machine," He did as he spoke, "And then you need to wait for a minute for it to start before it can work."

The girl looked at him with wide, curious eyes. He smiled. "You can pick the different settings here - this is the tensity, you can make it suck up the dust very powerfully or maybe not. And then you just pick it up and move it along the floor."

Gwil took the cleaner from Ben's hand and gave it to Reyna, who was surprised to be given such a big responsibility. She struggled with the large vacuum cleaner for a while and Gwil carefully watched her from the side until she finally managed to lift it up and started vacuuming the floor. The girl seemed to be so excited about learning new things.

"That's great, Reyna." Gwil smiled as him and Ben moved aside so the girl could do her work. "Now that you know how to clean the floor, you can help us when we're away, or when we're tired. What a good girl."

"Ben said he's never tired." Reyna said as she moved the handle over. "He only needs to recharge at night and he can work all day."

"Well, but maybe if you help, he can do a lot less work, and he can spend more time to play with the two of us." Gwil chuckled, and Reyna nodded immediately. Yep, she's obsessed with the Synth. Gwil moved his gaze from his daughter to the Synth standing next to him for a moment, studying him again. He wasn't sure if "I'm yours" should be a phrase for a Synth to say - none of the Synths he had seen, not even Edward, said anything like that. They took things literally, and only understood the shallowest meaning of a sentence. The sarcastic question Gwil asked should be replied with "I don't understand the question" like usual. But instead, Ben said that. Maybe he was imagining it, or he did see some hint of certainty in the Synth's eyes. Like he really understood how Gwil felt then, how hurt he was, being betrayed by someone he cared about, and he really promised to never hurt Gwil like that. But then maybe Ben's model was slightly better designed to make its user feel better. Gwil gave his daughter some instructions here and there, gave her some examples of cleaning the small gaps between the furniture, but his mind never left Ben.

Right now, Ben came back to his normal Synth behavior, and the hint of emotion was completely gone from his face. He stared blankly at Reyna, who turned out to be more skillful than Gwil expected, and stayed still. His green eyes didn't blink for once ever since Gwil first saw him, making the emptiness in his expression even more obvious. Sometimes when Reyna moved to another part of the room, Ben followed her, every movement of his leg short and calculated. The innocence Gwil saw faintly in those eyes might be just something from his imagination. Gwil sighed. Work might be exhausting him so much he started to have strange thoughts about housekeeping robots. 

Then suddenly Reyna's voice woke him from his thoughts. "Daddy! I can't get under the couch!"

Gwil blinked and looked at his daughter. "Oh, the couch? No, you don't have to clean under it. Just--"

Ben stepped forward and knelt down, put his hands under the couch. Before Gwil could ask what he was about to do, the Synth slowly pushed the couch up in the air, as easy as breathing. Gwil froze.

"Yay, thanks Ben!" Reyna smiled at him and got back to work. Gwil had always known Synths were stronger than humans, their skeletons were steel, after all, but that was… well. After a while, Reyna finished cleaning under the couch and got to the next room. They made their way after her, and soon, Gwil realized that with that impressive strength, Reyna didn't need her Daddy for help anymore. 

Anything she needed, she asked Ben. Gwil tried to give her some advice, and she did follow it at first, but then she started asking Ben about it after, and the Synth gave her some other advices that turned out to work so much better.

"Baking soda and lime is a rather effective cleaning substance, but this is better." Ben picked up the bottle of dish soap on the counter while Gwil was struggling with the lime juice. "I read the ingredients and formula of this soap before buying it from the store. It cleans very effectively."

"Really? Daddy, let's try it out." Reyna took the bottle, and the baking soda and lime juice went forgotten. Gwil hated how he messed things up, and he didn't deny the envy that sprang up everytime Ben said something perfectly correct with his monotonous voice. Everytime Gwil tried to teach Reyna something, she turned to Ben and most of the time, the Synth was always right. It was infuriating, considering that his mind was connected to the Internet at all times. And there was one time when they taught Reyna how to bake in the oven, and the little girl almost burned herself with the heavy tray. If Gwil was the only one there, she would definitely be injured, but thank God Ben was standing right next to her, and caught the tray in time. He wasn't just super intelligent, super strong, but also super fast. He was a superior to Gwil in every way possible.

Sometimes, he caught Ben looking at him for just a moment, but the Synth didn't show anything on his face. Gwil groaned at himself for being too paranoid. Ben was just a robot. He would never understand what's going on in Gwil's head right now.

"Oh, look, it stopped raining!" Reyna suddenly looked outside and turned to Gwil with her wide puppy eyes. Gwil turned his head to see the rain had stopped outside the window, and the sun started reappearing behind the clouds. He looked at his watch, and thank God, it was still early in the morning. They could still take a trip to the Aquarium that Reyna was so excited about.

"Can Ben take me to the Aquarium, please?"

What? Oh. "Uh, yeah. Do you want me to come with you, sweetheart? And let Ben stay home to charge? I promised we'll spend time together today. Just the two of us." 

"Nah, you're really busy, Daddy. I don't want to go home early like last time when we went to Disneyland. And you said you don't like the Aquarium when I asked you the first time." Reyna just shook her head. "Ben knows a lot about fish and turtles. He can tell me everything about the ones we're gonna see!"

Gwil's face fell. He tried to act nonchalant as he smiled at Reyna and nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll head back to work then."

"And Ben told me there's a new hot dog stand open in the opening of the Aquarium with lots of people liking it, so we'll have lunch there. Don't worry, Daddy, Ben can look after me real good." Reyna happily pulled the Synth's hand to get to her room and prepare for the trip. "He already packed a lunch for you in the fridge!"

He couldn't believe it. He had such a great plan to spend time with Reyna today. The rain already prevented him from carrying out his to do list: going out on a day without a Synth, visiting the Great White Shark, feeding the turtles and watching seals and dolphins doing tricks. They would have lunch outside, enjoying the aquarium tunnel where they walked under gallons of water with fish swimming around them, and Reyna's dream would be fulfilled. She had asked him to take her there since forever, but his job was too busy. He finally had a chance to make it up to her, and then he blew it up. And the Disneyland, God… He did also promised to let Reyna have a whole day there that time, but then Joe found out something absolutely amazing at the lab, and he cut the trip short to go there and see it for himself. He didn't feel anything when he did that, really, even though he apologized to Reyna. He was too much into his research.

Gwil tried to ignore the faint chatter of Reyna when she told Ben about how long she had been waiting for this to happen, and how she wished that Alexa brought him here sooner. He tried not to let himself get crushed under disappointment. Joe had warned him about it, but now when he finally listened, it was too late. He would never be as good as a Synth.

Gwil was about to just go to his room and gave Joe a call to whine about his self hatred before he noticed Reyna left her favorite hair bow in his room last week. She would definitely want to wear it going to the place she had been waiting so long to visit. She would look so adorable in those pictures. He decided to swallow his self pity and brought the bow to Reyna's room. And then some quiet talking behind the door stopped him from knocking.

"But I even pretended to not know anything about vacuum cleaners! He did seem happy about that, right?" It was Reyna. What was she talking about? Pretended?

"Reyna, that's not what I meant." And there was Ben. "You don't have to pretend or lie. It's great that he seems happy to teach you lots of things, but lying to each other is never good."

"But you told me to do things that makes him feel happy, right? I already did. If I told him you already taught me how to do the housework, he'll be upset again. But I don't want him coming with us to the Aquarium."

God, that stung. "Why? Don't you want to spend time with your Daddy?"

"But he's always busy! He's always rushing so we can go home. I can never ask him questions about the seals."

"But he's not busy now, Reyna. He had a plan to spend today with you. He misses you a lot. I think you should ask him to come with us." That--that didn't sound like a soulless Synth's voice at all. It was soft, caring and full of love. It sounded like a human. A friend. A parent. "He would be very sad if you don't."

There was a moment of silent, before he heard a sigh from the other side of the door, and the sound of footsteps coming closer freaked him out. Gwil quickly stepped further away from the door and looked at Reyna when she opened it.

"You left your hair bow in my room, sweetie. I think you'll want to wear it to the Aquarium."

"Thanks, Daddy." The girl took it, and then looked up at him. God, she was so tiny, comparing to his 6 feet 2 height. "...Do you want to come with us? Are you not busy today?"

Gwil shook his head. "Of course, I'm not busy today. I promise."

"Thank you Daddy. I miss you." She hugged his legs, and he stroke her hair lovingly. From the inside of the room, he could see Ben sitting on the bed, still perfectly straight with hands folded in his lap like usual, green eyes staring blankly into the distance, and a plastic smile on his lips. If Gwil didn't hear the conversation before, he would still think that Ben was nothing more than a dumb robot.


	4. That's my main function

Gwil couldn't stop thinking about what he heard. When they arrived at the aquarium, they met a Synth selling tickets at the entrance, and he took some time to study the orange eyed Synth when Ben bought the tickets for them. The last time he had a Synth was years ago, and his line of work didn't need one around, so he really wasn't sure how much they had changed. Maybe Ben was strange comparing to the Synth in Edward's time, but now all new lines of Synths were like that? Understanding of humans emotions and caring? 

But then he quickly crossed that possibility out of his head when he saw the aquarium Synth talking to Ben. They hadn't changed a bit. Yeah, sure, they seemed to have faster computers for brains and they knew how to fake smiles to welcome guests, but that's all. And so was Ben. He couldn't make out the Synth with the soft, loving voice from before. They all acted like machines, all recorded, empty words and creepy facial expressions. Gwil was slightly doubtful of himself - was that really Ben's voice he heard from his daughter's room? Synths having emotions was still something from fantasy books. If it wasn't him, who else could it be?

"Gwil, there's a rule here saying Synths are not allowed inside." Ben said when he gave him and Reyna their tickets. His plastic smile was gone. "I'm going into the charging station and wait. Call me with your app when you two are finished."

The Synth turned away before any of them could process what he said, and finally, Gwil managed to pull him back, eyes still wide. "What? Why? Why aren't Synths allowed here? There's no rule about that."

"It's a new rule of the Aquarium." Ben stopped walking and turned back to him. He explained, nonchalantly. Behind Gwil, Reyna was fidgeting with the hem of her Daddy's shirt, eyes watering. "They want to keep the experience as human friendly as possible. Synths are only allowed to come in after visiting hours to clean up and feed the marine animals."

Gwil let out a small sigh and looked around. It was true that people left their Synths at home, or in the charging station next to the entrance before coming in. They all seemed excited to spend some time without the overwhelming appearance of the greatest invention in the history of technology, and no one complaint. He decided to get nearer to the Aquarium's entrance and read the cautions at the door, letting the other two together. The sign said Synths weren't allowed to be inside, under every circumstances. There was no way they could let Ben come in when he acted like a robot and talked with that monotonous voice. Gwil glanced behind him to find the other two, and he saw Ben crouching down to look into Reyna's eyes, holding a hand out to her and let her put her tiny hands in his. 

She mumbled something, her lips trembled and her eyes starting to get redder. Poor girl, she was so excited to ask Ben all of her questions about the animals she saw on the aquarium's poster. And then Ben said something back, and after a while, Reyna finally nodded and let Ben took her to where Gwil was standing. Gwil narrowed his eyes. The blank expression is back.

"Goodbye, Reyna. Goodbye, Gwil." He said, letting Reyna get to Gwil's spot. 

"Goodbye, Ben." The little girl hiccupped, and waved goodbye to the Synth. Ben started walking into the charging station, where a hundred of other Synths were already sat on separate benches with cables plugged into their hips, head lowering. Gwil held her hand. 

"Don't worry, it's just for a few hours. After we finished the trip, we can go get Ben, okay? He'll still be waiting for us."

Reyna nodded, and they walked inside the aquarium.

It didn't make any difference for him and Reyna, but everyone was talking about it. On Sunday, people were flooding the place, and wherever the two of them went, they heard them. They didn't stop mentioning how amazing it was in a Synth-free environment like this. They gave so many positive feedbacks about the "peaceful" and "friendly" atmosphere here, even though Gwil couldn't find Synths any chaotic or aggressive. Seemed like when something was becoming too popular, some people would choose to go against it and consider themselves cool. Gwil tried not to let how some of the insults on the Synths get to Reyna's ears. The girl was already heartbroken about not having Ben there, she didn't need to hear some selfish jerks talking about how Synths should disappear from the Earth forever. God, why wouldn't they wish for their car or electricity to disappear forever? 

At every spot, Gwil always stopped and watched the animals with Reyna. He spent all of his time paying attention to everything she asked, something he had never done in a long time. He never noticed how curious and sometimes brilliant his daughter was. There were some questions even he couldn't answer, and he had to search it on the Internet, or ask a staff there. They were all humans, and they were so proud they couldn't stop babbling about it. Reyna's eyes started tearing up again when she heard how they talked about Synths, so Gwil just glared at them to shut up and took her away. 

Gwil found Synths overwhelming, to be honest. The first time he knew one, it ruined his family. The second time he knew one, it was acting so strange and suspicious he doubt it was really a Synth in the first place. Before, he thought people loved Synths and considered them their greatest invention, but now everyone around him seemed to be mad at Synths at some point, and he couldn't understand them. And the worst thing was that their attitude was hurting his daughter, and there was nothing he could do about it. 

"Welcome one, welcome all!" The voice of the showman roared in the rows of speakers, making everyone cheered. Reyna was fidgeting in her seat next to Gwil, looking at the pools with excitement. Yes, finally somewhere they could focus on relaxing and not think about all Synths in general, and one Synth in particular: The dolphin show. "Blue and Lola are so excited to perform for you all today, and they just can't wait!"

Everyone cheered again. Gwil sat back and let out a breath. He always thought dolphin shows were silly before, but he guessed he changed his mind. Spending time with Reyna was the best thing he had ever done. More than all of his successful experiments combined. And it was so relieving that Reyna stopped being oddly quiet and started showing some interest. He couldn't stand letting her day ruined just by the words of some jerks. Finally, after a while of greetings and introducing, the dolphins came into play. They jumped up the water a few times, and the whole stadium exploded. Reyna squealed happily as well.

"And here we are today with the lovely trainers of our adorable dolphins - Laura and James!" The two trainers in their swimsuits and having a whistle on their necks waved at the audience, heading towards the bridge in the middle of the pool. The dolphins started following them. "Ha! Don't worry people, these are real life humans! As we promised, Synths aren't allowed. Come on, we would never let those dumb piles of metal train our smart dolphins, wouldn't we?"

The crowd laughed. Reyna sank back into her chair, eyes confused. Gwil groaned in his head. There goes the show. 

And just like he expected, the entire experience was destroyed by Reyna curling into her chair and sniffing the whole time. He just sighed and held her into his lap. God, will he ever get a break with these people?

"Oh, do you need any help with your daughter?" A woman sitting next to him asked when she heard Reyna's sniffing. Gwil put on a smile and shook his head.

"It's okay, nothing's wrong." Gwil held her tighter into his lap. "She's just upset because everyone here seems to hate Synths so much. We have a Synth at home and she loved him."

"God, really?" The woman rolled her eyes. "You need to do something about it. Letting your children near any of those machines and it'll ruin their lives."

"That's not true!" Reyna yelled from his lap, scrambling to shove his arms away so she could face the lady. "Ben does not ruin my life! He's kind!"

"See, your child's already brainwashed." The woman continued to say, shaking her head. "Synths are just piles of metals, sweetheart. They cannot be kind. We should never have created them. Now they start to take things that once belonged to us."

Reyna screamed, making Gwil flinched. She madly clawes at Gwil's arms so she could jump into the woman's face. If Gwil let his surprise got the better of him, he would have let her go and the little animal in her would tear that woman apart.

"Jesus, Reyna, come on," Gwil immediately looked around as people started to stare at the source of the noise. Thank God the dolphin show was still capturing most of their attention. "Let's get out of here."

He stood up and took her hand, pulling her out of the stadium. The girl was still angry at that woman, constantly yelling despite being dragged away by her father. Behind them, the woman started whispering something to the one next to her, eyeing them with disgust. "Ben is a Synth and he's _not_ mean! Unlike _you_! He taught me how to be kind and love others! You are _worse_ than him!"

"Reyna, Reyna, stop yelling." When they finally got outside, Gwil pulled Reyna into his lap again and stared her down. "Daddy doesn't approve of your behavior right now. Did Ben teach you to attack people when they have different opinion?"

Reyna went quiet immediately. She sunk into his lap, gaze lowering. "But… But they all said Synths are bad. They make fun of Synths. They are so _mean_."

"I know, sweetie, they're not the best of people." He stroke her wet cheeks, trying to wipe away her tears. "But violence is never the answer, okay? You know what, how about I get you an ice cream, and then we'll get Ben and go home, yeah?"

Reyna seemed to be a little happier when it came to ice cream. She nodded and jumped off his lap, letting him take her to a small cafe in the center of the aquarium. They sat down on a table and Gwil let Reyna pick the ice cream.

They sat there, waiting for the ice cream, and Gwil thought about what Reyna said to the woman before. At the dolphin show, he was too freaked out to really notice, but now that he thought about it, seemed like it was true that something was strange with Ben. He knew Synths. They might look like humans, but they were just machines. They didn't have consciousness, or emotions. They just worked with calculations and did what they were told. But Reyna yelled at the woman that Ben was kind, and he taught her how to be kind and love others. Reyna could be too young to differentiate a Synth following orders with kindness, but she couldn't fake being taught. Everything Gwil had noticed before was right. Ben was kind to her, and he didn't just serve her like a robot. He had some connection to the girl, and he taught her how to behave. Gwil remembered how he held Reyna's little hands to stop her from crying before he stayed at the charging station. The way he looked at Reyna wasn't at all like the empty gaze he always put on in front of Gwil. And based on how much Reyna loved Ben after only just a week of having him, Gwil knew that Ben was different somehow. He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad kind of different, but he thought he needed to confront the Synth when they got back.

"Oh, hey, it's the Synth fan!" A voice from the other side of the cafe startled Gwil in the middle of their ice cream. Gwil turned around to look at the person, and he noticed the woman they met at the dolphin show before. She was sitting next to a man, probably her husband, and they were throwing insults at them. "Still here? Why haven't you take your daughter home with that Ben pile of trash?"

Reyna practically growled, and he had to hold her back. God, what was wrong with them this time? She pretended to care about Gwil and his children, but now it was just full on being assholes. They were just having ice cream, and they had to follow them all the way here to bully them? 

"Alright, we're leaving." That was the seventh time he had to say that to Reyna in the middle of enjoying something, and he felt so, so guilty. He had no idea coming to this place was that much of a fuss.

"Running again?" Her husband laughed obnoxiously, and some other customers in the cafe laughed at them as well.

"People, this man has no idea how to raise his daughter." The woman from before said to everyone. "He let his dumb Synth taking care of her for so long she started to have paranoia from her lack of love."

"The Synths don't just take our job from us. They take our children." The man slammed on his table, and suddenly from behind him, Reyna yelled.

_ "Daddy, be careful!" _

Gwil snapped his head around just when a glass bottle flew into his face. Reyna squeaked, blood froze in his veins, and then suddenly, a thud. The bottle stopped inches in front of him, firmly grabbed in a hand. 

_"Ben!"_ Reyna jumped out of her chair and ran to hug Ben's legs. Gwil's heart was still pounding in his chest when he stared wide eyed at the Synth, who looked like he had been right next to them the whole time. He was standing between Gwil and the asshole who threw the bottle, arms stretching out, and caught it right before it hit Gwil. 

Ben put the bottle on the table, green Synth eyes flashed dangerously. "We should leave."

None of the other customers dared to say anything. They were still at awe by how Ben wasn't orange eyed like the normal Synths, but still unmistakably a Synth, with his light blue bodysuit and strong, sharp movements. And probably because of his speed and strength as well. Gwil picked Reyna up and walked out with Ben following him from behind, keeping any extremist from getting close.

When they were finally safe in the car and Ben started driving them home, Gwil turned to him. "Hey, thanks for saving me back there. That would've been a bad bruise, and I don't know what they'd do next."

"It's no problem, Gwil. My main function is to protect you and Reyna at all cost." That was still the robotic Synth voice he heard this morning.

"How did you know when to come in? And how did you get through the guards?" Reyna asked.

"I have a wireless connection to your father's phone. It showed that his heartbeat was rising quickly, so I had to go in and check it out." He looked at her through the mirror.

"Like you told me this morning before we came in." Her face broke into a bright smile. "You might not be with us, but you're always watching over us."

"Of course, Reyna." He said, turning back to the road. "That's my main function."


	5. Thank you, Gwil

Gwil noticed a long cut on the underside of Ben's left arm when he opened the car door for Reyna. The thin layer of the body suit that came with him "straight from the package" was cut, and under that, on Ben's porcelain skin, a long wound was slowly leaking blue blood onto the ground. Ben had been having a piece of transparent duct tape under his arm to keep the liquid inside so neither of them could see it, but now, when Gwil was closer and not panicking from being attacked by a bunch of extremists, he realized Ben was hurt.

Well, wounded, but not hurt. He wasn't sure if a Synth like Ben could feel the pain. He knew that other Synths didn't.

"You're wounded." He said as Reyna was too occupied with the key. He didn't want the girl to know that anything happened to Ben - she would make a huge fuss. "Is that serious? Do you need any help?"

"Oh, this?" Ben glanced at his wound and shook his head. "It is just a small cut. I got it when I broke into the aquarium. I will patch it with the Injury Kit and I will be fine."

"What kit?" Gwil's raised his eyebrow, and the Synth replied.

"The Injury Kit that comes with me when Alexa bought me. I took it here and left it in one of the drawers in the kitchen. It has a few layers of skin for me to replace in case I'm injured, some solvent in case I lose it through the open wound and some other tools." Ben said as they got inside. Gwil took off his shoes, and before he could do anything, Ben bent down to pick up their shoes, his and Reyna's, and placed them neatly on the shelf. Gwil's daughter was already upstairs, doing some secret things that he couldn't find out.

"How did you break in there?" Gwil asked, looking at the cut anxiously. It looked rather deep. 

"I climbed up the fence outside and got through the back door." Ben answered. "A loose wire at the fence cut me."

Gwil couldn't believe he missed such a long wound on Ben's arm. He was still in shock when the Synth suddenly appeared in front of him and stopped the glass bottle from hitting the back of his head. Gwil had no idea what would happen if it escalated. A glass bottle would only leave a bruise, but if he reacted poorly, those people could definitely come in and attack him. Or worse, Reyna. She was just a tiny girl. He would never forgive himself if he let anything happen to her, especially when the whole scene started because he brought Ben home.

"I thought you always think everything through and, I don't know, consider all possibilities." Gwil glanced at Ben. "This loose wire got past your calculations?"

"No, it didn't." Ben immediately said. "I saw that it was the only spot that couldn't trigger the alarm. If I chose any other spot to climb in, everyone would be alerted. The cut is just a small price to pay. I had to get to you as fast as possible."

It shouldn't feel so good, but Gwil couldn't help himself. When Alexa told him Ben could protect them, he had a lot of doubts. And annoyance, too. He was fully capable of looking after his daughter without help from others. But whenever something happened - like when Reyna didn't pay attention and almost got hit by a car last week, or when all of this happened - Ben was always there to shield them from troubles. He was far superior to Gwil - the man could never do most of the things he did. If Gwil was the only one with Reyna, the little girl would be in the hospital by now. And maybe he would be in there with her.

Ben was walking on Gwil's right when suddenly he walked into the table and almost fell. Thankfully, Gwil quickly held him on his feet.

"Jesus, what's that?" He looked at the Synth, who was squeezing his wound tightly.

"I lost too much solvent. It's interfering with the signal in the sensor - movement pathway." Ben said, and Gwil could sense something like worry in his voice.

"The solvent, you mean...the blood?" Gwil cleared his throat, pointed vaguely at the blue liquid that was still leaking out from his wound, and Ben nodded. 

"It's essential to my inner system. Without the right amount, most of my main functions wouldn't work. I need some sodium chloride to add to this solvent from the bag before pumping it in. Is it alright if I take some from your kitchen?" The Synth looked at him, eyes blank, his blue blood visible through the duct tape, Gwil sighed.

"You know what, I can't just let you patch yourself up alone when you risked yourself protecting us." He held Ben's wrist and pulled him into the kitchen. "Come here." 

The Synth seemed confused with Gwil's determination, but he followed the man anyway. Synths were created to follow their users' want, so he didn't protest when the man pulled out a chair and told him to sit down. Gwil shuffled through the cupboard to look for the salt, and finally put the bottle down on the counter in front of Ben. 

"Here's the salt." 

He turned around again to look for a large bowl, and put it down. "I'll mix the solvent in this, okay?"

Ben nodded. He sat there, looking at Gwil's back when the man opened the drawers to look for the kit. "Where did you leave the kit?"

"The bottom drawer." Ben said, and Gwil opened it. Inside, there was a small box with a blue cross on top of it, and a faint logo of the brand. Persona. Huh. Gwil never noticed how Ben was such a high end...well, should be product, but probably wasn't. Gwil was still wondering.

"Alright, here it is." He put the box on the counter between them, and sat down. He opened it, revealing bags and packages and wires and circuit boards, all sorted in different stacks, and looked at the Synth. "Just tell me what to do, and I'll help you, yeah?"

"Gwil, I can do this. Self maintenance is something we usually do." Ben said again, eyeing the box. "You don't have to."

"Yes, I do." Gwil said, and started digging through it to look for the blue solvent. "You saved me, remember?"

"I'm only doing my job, Gwil." Ben raised his hand to help Gwil with the bag of liquid. "This is what I was made to do. To make your life safe and happy."

"It doesn't mean I shouldn't be grateful for it, Ben." Gwil shook his head, cut the bag and poured the solvent into the bowl. It was dark blue, like ink, and quite thin. He picked up the bottle of salt and took out his measuring cup. "Here, you do this. I have no idea how much I should put in."

Ben took the bottle from his hands and started measuring the salt himself, eyes focuses on the cup. His hand movements were still inhumanly perfect and robotic, but from this close distance, Gwil could see the tiniest crease between his eyebrows. Like he was really, really focused. Like a human.

"Ben?"

The Synth poured the salt into the bowl and looked at Gwil. "Yes, Gwil?"

"Why are you acting different when I'm not around?"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand your question." Ben said after a few second, and continued with his cup of salt.

"You give Reyna advices, you teach Reyna things, and you seems really… I don't know, friendly and caring, towards her." Gwil bit his lip. "Sometimes I wonder if you love her like your own child or something."

"I don't love, Gwil. Synths don't love." Ben said, not even looking at him. Blank green eyes stared at the bowl as he mixed the solution. "I only told Reyna the right things to do, which was already set up in my core, and she chose to learn them by herself. I protected and cared about you and Reyna because that is what Synths are made for. We are intelligent computers, and we finish our tasks. That is all."

Gwil let out a huff, but he still stood up to help Ben mixing the bowl. "I heard you talking to Reyna. You sounded different. Nothing like when you are with me."

"You must have mistaken. Maybe you heard something else and thought it was me." Ben's voice didn't waver. He fished out a large syringe from the box and opened a small portal on the back of his neck. 

Gwil knew it wasn't true, but he didn't have any proof. And Ben was a Synth, for God's sake. He could avoid his questions forever and there was nothing he could do about it. Gwil's head spinned with all of the questions. He heard Ben. He saw him. It wasn't something he made up, right? But then… At the time, Gwil was really upset and disappointed. And envious, and tired as well. His mind was clouded with the jealousy when he thought of how Ben was so much better than him at taking care of Reyna, and maybe… Maybe he let his imagination get the better of him. Synths don't lie. He saw it in the instruction book, and every Synth in the world was like that. They were machines, they never have any reasons to lie. 

"I don't know, Ben." Gwil sighed, taking the syringe and took up a proportion of the solution into it. He walked behind Ben and used the syringe to pump the blue liquid into his portal. "I was really blinded with envy and I don't know if I'm still sane enough to see the truth. Work has been crushing me lately and the stuff about Alexa and I keep noticing these things about you that keeps me wondering…"

"What did you notice about me?"

Aside from how you clearly have consciousness and feelings and you're just faking being a robot to trick me for some reason? "You're a robot and you're still a better parent than I am."

Ben didn't reply. He stared into the distance as Gwil took another syringe of solution, and pumped it into his neck. And then at the third syringe, he opened his mouth.

"Technically, it's true." Gwil stared wide eyed at him, gaping. He honestly didn't think Ben would agree to that. Not at all.

"...Yeah?"

"I'm stronger, faster, more precise," Ben listed. "I don't make mistakes, I can't be lied to, and I never lie. Those few assets have already made me more suitable for the task of raising a child."

Gwil rolled his eyes. 

"I can do anything." Ben said, his face was hidden so Gwil couldn't see it. "But I can never love Reyna like you do."

Oh. Gwil blinked. 

"It's your love that turned her into a kind, loving and forgiving human and not a Synth." He said, closing the portal behind his neck with his hand and turned around. Their gaze met. "That is something that makes you a good parent. I'm just here to help."

Ben looked up at him, gave him a smile that looked nothing different from the plastic ones he usually saw, but felt every way different. And in that moment, Gwil thought if that was what his imagination was creating - the warmth that came off of that smile - then it was damn good at its job. 

"Okay let's--" Gwil stuttered, turning his eyes away before his mind wandered off. He knew it was close - very close, but he had to stop it. He couldn't let himself falling down into another pit. "Let's just get on with the wound, then."

Ben didn't seem to notice how Gwil's voice broke a little. He nodded and slowly took off his shirt, revealing his upper body. Gwil swallowed, trying not to think about how perfectly gorgeous Ben looked half naked. More fascinating than any other men Gwil had been with before, or seen before. Creamy flawless skin, broad shoulders, thick biceps, firm rows of abs and a tiny waist. It reminded Gwil of his high school crush Gregory, who was in the school's football team, but a thousand times better. This wasn't a high school boy. This was a man. Gwil hated his bisexual urges sometimes - he had no idea how to control them. This was a Synth, for God's sake! Sure, they were designed to be attractive and sure, people could have sex with them, like, regularly, hell, his ex wife did, but Gwil wasn't the kind of person that could have just sex with someone. He got attracted by good looking people, but if he ever chose to get to bed with them, he had to like them more than a friend. And that was why having attractions towards a Synth was a dangerous, dangerous path. Gwil flinched. Having attractions towards a Synth? Why the hell did he even have that thought in mind? 

Ben picked up a package with a large piece of skin from the box while Gwil was still panicking with his own thoughts. He tore it, took it out, removed the tape, and just placed it over the wound. 

"You don't have to stitch it or anything?" Gwil furrowed his eyebrows, but Ben shook his head. Before he could answer, the borders faded, the piece of skin slowly sunk into his flesh and became one, covered the opening entirely, making everything looked as good as new. Gwil gaped.

"What? What's that?"

"It's nanotech." Ben pushed onto the spot a few times to check, and it was really flawless. As if no wound was ever there. "This technology is applied for the first time in Synth maintenance on me. After this, I guess it'll be used in military Synths and the Synths who have to work under toxic conditions."

"So...it's done?" Gwil couldn't help but to reach out and trace his finger over where there used to be a long cut. It was all smooth. Nanotech. God, he had always wanted to study about it.

"Yes. I'm officially back at my full speed." Ben nodded, and put the shirt over his head. "I will send a message to Persona's Customer Service Department to request a new outfit to replace this, and you won't be able to notice the difference. The outfit will be sent here by UPS in a few working days, and you won't be charged for anything. Here at Persona, we promise to provide you with the best customer service."

Gwil hated when he talked like a machine. He bit his lip, looking at Ben in his blue, robotic outfit, the one that the manufacturer made for him, and sighed. "That's not necessary."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand your statement. It is necessary." Ben stared at him, and Gwil shook his head. That outfit was one of the things that kept reminding Gwil of his old Synth. It had to go. He stood up and quickly pulled Ben to his room. 

"What are you doing, Gwil?" He asked when Gwil started to open his wardrobe and looking through the clothes inside. Gwil didn't answer, until he finally took out a green jumper and a pair of sweatpants and put them on the bed.

"Here. You can put this on now. And from now on, you can share my wardrobe, put on anything that you like. Anything."

Ben looked at the clothes, and then back at Gwil. "These are not appropriate for--"

"I wear them all the time and I find them appropriate for everything. I just wish I can wear this to the lab, really." Gwil chuckled as he stepped closer, softening his voice. "You wearing this will make Reyna so much happier. And well, the jumper compliments your eyes, so why not? Just put them on."

Ben looked like he wanted to protest, but again, Synths were made to follow human's wants and needs. He started taking off his old body suit, and Gwil responsibly turned away. He waited, listened to Ben's movements, until finally, Ben said that he finished putting the clothes on.

"Wow." Gwil blinked when he turned around and saw Ben, standing there in the most mundane clothes he got from Walmart with 12 pounds, looking like a runway model. The fabric was slightly stretched on his torso, since he was broader than Gwil, but it made it even easier to notice his incredible physique. "You look...nice. Comfy." 

"Thank you, Gwil." Ben gave him the smile again, and Gwil turned his eyes away before his mind wandered.


	6. They're not hurt

Gwil woke up to the sound of a familiar melody. It was fast, full of life and excitement, and it immediately made him feel good. He noticed it was from his vinyl record player, but it took him a few seconds to remember what the song was. It was in his Queen collection.

I was born to love you

With every single beat of my heart

I was born to take care of you

Every single day of my life

He rubbed his eyes before getting out of the bed. Reyna must have put the song on, since today was her class trip and she was blowing with happiness last night. She must have been too eager to sleep in and decided to blast the music to wake him up, so he could take her to school in time. Seriously, if only she was this willing to get to school every morning, his life would be so much easier. He used to have to drag her out of bed and onto the school bus.

Gwil got into the bathroom, going through his morning routine like usual, with the music blasting in the house. 

You are the one for me

I am the man for you

You were made for me

You're my ecstasy

If I was given every opportunity

I'd kill for your love

He didn't mind, though. It was definitely a great song. He just didn't have much time to spend listening to the whole album ever since he bought it, and he was glad his daughter picked it. When he got out of the bathroom, all fresh and clean, he saw the clothes for the day had already been set out neatly on his bed. Ben must have gotten in to deliver the clothes to him from the laundry, all warm, dry and perfectly ironed. Yes, his life was difficult before, when he had to deal with tons of housework he had no idea how to do, and when Reyna had to face the bullies at school that no matter how much he tried to negotiate, they still didn't let go of her. It was a tough time. 

But it was all behind him now, Gwil thought when he put the clothes on. The fabric softener's rosy smell made him smile. He finally found a way to transfer Reyna to somewhere else, where the kids were nice and she got so many new friends, and Ben happened. Ben didn't just finish the housework like it was his duty and he couldn't wait to get home, unlike the help Gwil had hired before, but he did it with care. Or maybe that's how Gwil felt about him. Gwil was still slightly awkward whenever he saw Ben, but slowly, they got used to each other. His mind was set into always putting Gwil and Reyna first, always considering the possibilities and chose the options that could take care of them best. He noticed the smallest things about them, and in just a short time, Gwil was sure that he understood Gwil and Reyna more than Alexa, or anyone ever did. At first, he thought it might bother him, but turned out he felt good as hell. For example, like how Ben knew Gwil's favorite color and material, so he always laid out the best outfit for him in the morning, like this. Gwil didn't even know he could like wearing something so much. Before, he barely had time to care about his clothes. He just put on the first thing he saw, and ended up wearing the same two outfits again and again for months. Or like how Ben found out Reyna's favorite food and found a way to mix it with vegetables to make her meals all appealing, delicious and healthy at the same time. 

So take a chance with me

Let me romance with you

I'm caught in a dream

And my dream's come true

It's so hard to believe

This is happening to me

An amazing feeling

Comin' through

Gwil's life before wasn't the worst. He lived it, and he was satisfied without knowing that there was something better out there. But now when Ben came and made him feel taken care of, like he could face the whole world out there but could always come back to a warm home with a loving daughter, and he could be in peace. 

I was born to love you

With every single beat of my heart

Yes, I was born to take care of you

Every single day of my life

He got out of his room and headed to the kitchen, where he knew Reyna was putting on the music. 

"Hey there, little Queenie!" He greeted the little girl when he saw her prancing around Ben near the kitchen counter, and she immediately bolted to him for a hug. "Excited for the trip?"

Reyna giggled as he covered her little face in kisses, and nodded. "We're leaving in an hour, Dad! Be faster or we'll be late!"

"Alright, alright, I'm here now, aren't I?" Gwil sat down on the dinner table and smiled at Ben, who put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him with a fork and an orange juice on the side. The Synth gave him his usual smile, but it looked so much different right now when it no longer reminded Gwil so much of his past with Synths. Ben was already different from normal Synths because of his green eyes, but now when he put on Gwil's clothes, he looked almost like a human. If Gwil didn't know any better, he wouldn't notice. It made the distance he unconsciously put between himself and Ben smaller. Just a little bit. "Did you put this song on, Reyna?"

"Nah, Ben did." Reyna shrugged. "I asked him to pick the one he likes best, and he picked this."

"Really?" Gwil turned to Ben, who was tidying up the table. "You know Queen songs?"

"I have the database of the entire Internet, so yes, I do have information about the band Queen." The Synth nodded. "And I also saw that it's your favorite band, so I want to put it on to wake you up."

Gwil blinked. Ben even knew his favorite band and wanted to please him with Queen songs? God, how did he know everything?

"How did you know I like Queen?" Gwil tilted his head, and Ben replied.

"The Queen vinyls are the most used ones in your collection, and when I stood in front of the shelf, I could see that they are all organized carefully and all in the nearest spot to reach, considering your height, of course." Ben gave him a small smile. "And you named your daughter Reyna, which means Queen. She was born after you bought several vinyl records, so I assumed the band is the reason for her name."

"Wow, Daddy, you named me after a rock band?" Reyna stared at him wide eyed. "That's so cool!"

Gwil's cheeks got heated at how Ben knew everything happening inside his head. It was weird, but he didn't hate it. "Okay, so you just picked a random Queen song?"

Ben paused a little, then shook his head. "There's also another reason. The chorus of this song is somehow encrypted in my core database. It always came in my program since the first time I was turned on."

Well, that was…strange. But then Gwil never understood Synth's technology, especially the latest models like Ben, so he guessed it was just another special thing about him. Maybe it's a tagline? Maybe Ben's models were born to protect and take care of people, so the manufacturers decided to put this lyric into his computer. 

"Ben cooked me breakfast and I finished it long ago, so you're the last one now." Reyna turned back to the counter where she was making something suspiciously like a dessert, waving Ben over to help. The Synth came to her and gave her a hand. Gwil wanted to look to see what she was doing, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of it. He decided to abandon his breakfast and take a peak. The baking tray and paper was out, but turned out there were just pieces of plastic on it and not some kind of cake. Too bad because Ben made divine cakes.

"What are you making, Reyna?" He tickled the girl from behind, and she squeaked. 

"Daddy!"

"Reyna's making handmade shrink plastic keychains and I'm helping her with the oven." Ben answered calmly as the girl was giggling nonstop.

"Oh?" Gwil raised his eyebrow at his daughter. "Why? Are you giving them to me as a gift?"

"No!" She said, and he tickled her again.

"Gwil, I recommend you not playing with Reyna when you are near the oven. It's highly unsafe." Ben said, extending his arms to shield them both from the heating oven, but the smiled stayed on his face.

"Yeah, right, sorry," Gwil scratched his head. He turned to the girl. "So--"

The alarm went off again. Reyna immediately squealed and pulled Gwil's arm, pulling him to the door while fumbling with her own backpack. "We have to go now!!"

"Don't worry, Reyna, I will bake them and keep them neat for you when you get back." Ben called after them, and Reyna yelled back a thank you before closing the door behind them. For a seven year old, she sure was strong. 

The girl quickly got them into the car and urged him to get her too school as fast as possible, even when he tried to persuade her that the class wouldn't go on the trip without her. After all of her nonstop urging, he settled on driving on the shortcut to make sure they could get there on time. 

"So what's with the keychains, sweetie?" Gwil asked when they were half-way there. "Are they a gift? To some...particular kid at school?"

"No, Dad, it's not like I'm having a...a… boyfriend or anything!" She looked adorable when she struggled to remember the term. "You don't have one, so I don't."

"Well, we still have Mommy, right?" He raised his hand to stroke her hair, but she shook her head.

"That's not the same. Boyfriends and girlfriends are someone we are happy with." She said, and he shuddered from the depth of her voice. Sometimes he thought maybe his broken marriage really didn't have any effect on Reyna, she was still the cheerful girl from before, but in times like these, he knew it wasn't true. "But I don't need that because there's you and I and Ben. We are happy together."

Gwil just smiled. She had been through a lot, but she was still positive. More than he could ever be. "Yeah, sure. So, no boyfriends or girlfriends. Who the keychains are for?"

"I made them for the Synths in our neighborhood. They're not keychains, they're more like…pins. So they can stick on their shirt or something." She shrugged, and he turned aside to look at her.

"The Synths in our neighborhood? Why?" 

Reyna sighed, and flopped in her seat. "I… Yesterday I asked Ben why the people at the aquarium say bad things about Synths. He… He told me that they are angry because they lose their jobs to Synths, because Synths are better at man...manu…"

"Manual jobs?" Gwil suggested, and she nodded. "Yeah! The things we have to do with our hands. Ben said that he usually says hi to Synth David nextdoor and David is actually a reused Synth. He used to work in a chemical plant and he was hurt because of the workers there. David told Ben that in their recess, they beat Synths and break them, because they were too angry. But none of the other machines in the plant was beaten like that. Only Synths."

God. Gwil took in a deep breath. He knew technically the Synths wouldn't feel the pain, but those people were just too much. Just like the ones at the aquarium. Synths were perfect machines and it was understandable that factories chose them over humans, who are more demanding, weaker and more easily tired. He felt sorry for the workers, and maybe...the ones at the aquarium as well. They were exasperated. But then he thought of Ben suffering from the same fate as David, and he hated that thought too. Being beaten up and tortured for something not their fault, not knowing why… How would they react to the cruel violence? Probably being helplessly confused and saying over and over that they didn't understand the question.

"I want to do something for the Synths I know. To cheer them up." Reyna smiled. "Make them know that I'm not like those people. I want them to be in this world with me."

Gwil let out a small laugh, and he continued to drive her through the gate. He was a lucky man to have such a sweet, loving and caring daughter. He was happy to know that all of his love, like Ben said, had made Reyna a kind person. But she was confusing that Synths have feelings, whose feelings were hurt by the injustice that happened to them. And it changed everything.

Finally, before Reyna eagerly took off her seat belt to get out of the car, Gwil asked her gently. "Reyna, you remember what I said when Ben first came home, right? They are not like us. What happened to them was horrible, but they can't feel it. You don't need to be too upset, okay? I promise they're not hurt."

"If it was Ben, he would be hurt." She shrugged before getting off the car. "I saw him crying when we watched The Lion King the other day, when Mufasa died. I don't want to see any of them cry again."


	7. No need

"This is getting creepy, Gwil." Joe said as he shook the bottle of chemical lightly in his hand without looking at the other man in the room. "Now I'm not sure what you have in your house."

"It's not creepy, it's just strange." Gwil rolled his eyes. He sighed as he looked at the experiment carried out in front of him. He was so distracted the entire morning that nothing seemed to work out. They were working so hard on this, the results were so close, and he felt like he kept blowing things up at the last minute. Just because he couldn't stop thinking about Ben. 

"Normal Synths are not like that, Gwil, and you know it. They don't even lie, much less having feelings." Joe glanced at him. The man seemed to be so tired of telling Gwil the same thing over and over. "Imagine having a car that keeps saying sweet things to your daughter and, honest to God, crying while watching The Lion King. Do you really wanna keep that, or throw it into the trash immediately? It's like a freaking haunted doll in horror movies or something!"

"Well, Alexa kept saying he's custom made and has all these new, special features that no other Synths have, so I don't even know if I should be freaking out, Joe." Gwil huffed. He took off his goggles in exasperation. "All companies are trying to make Synths as close to humans as possible, and Persona is one of the best one out there."

"Gwil, if they somehow made a Synth that can literally cry and laugh and feel," Joe put the bottle down and stared at him. "Do you think they'd just give it to you in secret? Without any warning in their instructions? Or do you think they would scream to let the world know how advanced their products are and PR the fuck out of it? People would kill to have a Synth with feelings, Gwil!"

"Really? Care to tell me?" Gwil crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. He leaned back on his table.

"God, now I have to spoon feed you this, because you're just too attractive to really care," Joe stepped to him and squished his face. "A lot of rich people out there don't have girlfriends or boyfriends or spouse or anything, because a, they're ugly, b, they're mean, or c, they're too busy making money. So what do they do? Buy a Synth, so whenever they need, the Synth will fulfill their...desires."

Gwil bit his lip, thinking about the small square packet he saw at the bottom of the instruction box that came with Ben. He knew what it was, and he tried not to look at it the first night that Ben came and put the packet on his nightstand. Probably something that all Synths do. Inside of that packet, there would be a small piece of paper, printed with three random words, could be tropical, green, gradient, rose, anything. And when a user read those three words to their Synth, the Synth's sexual mode would be unlocked. His user could have as much sex with him as they wanted, however they wanted, the Synth would always please them with everything he had. Ben's packet was hidden deep inside the bottom drawer of the nightstand in Gwil's bedroom, and Gwil forgot about it until now. Thinking about touching Ben made him nauseous. After he saw what happened between Alexa and their old Synth Edward, having sex with Synths had always been something forbidden to think about for him.

"But sex is just the outside of things." Joe said, slowly and clearly, like he was talking to a child. "Imagine if the Synths have feelings. They can laugh, they can smile and say I love you and stuff. The life of those pathetic rich old men would be complete. They won't have to do anything, they only need a few grands to have a perfect looking Synth, who loves them unconditionally, who is always willing to pleasure them, and who they can quickly discard or turn off as they like and no one will bat an eye. They can become the ancient Chinese Emperors with tens of different mistresses waiting in their bedrooms."

That...made a lot of sense. And Gwil shuddered, thinking about how much resemblance he had with the ones Joe claimed to be pathetic rich old men. He had always been lonely since the divorce with Alexa, but all he focused on was work and Reyna that he had no time to build a new relationship. And the more he set it aside, the less he wanted to do it. Dating and getting to know new people were just so tiring. He had spent all his life loving a woman and having everything burned to ash before him. Gwil felt like all of his energy had gone into his marriage with Alexa, and he just couldn't spare any more emotion for romance. Sex, sure, he was still at his physical peak, but emotionally, he was worn out. Now all of his love focused on Reyna, and he buried his stupid loneliness down deep so he could have his normal life back. But now suddenly Ben came into his life, and he was confused. He… It's been a long time since someone really cared about his diet enough to try cooking healthy for him, or cared about his feelings enough to put on his favorite band in the morning to wake him up. Ben's actions could be purely from his functions as a Synth, or maybe from something else, but Gwil fell for them nonetheless. 

"Now, I'm not making any assumptions here, okay?" Joe continued, voice low. "But you've always been a sensitive, emotional sap since I've known you, so having Ben around can lead to unexpected and unwanted feelings. From you."

Gwil looked away, heart hammering in his chest. Joe read him like an open book. 

"And really, I don't want you to be like those pathetic rich old men. There's a lot of options out there for you. I can't let you become a robot-fucking loser, or worse, robot-loving loser. Because you know how horrible it is, being in love with a Synth, right?"

Gwil didn't answer. His lips shook.

"It's just unhealthy, Gwil. Technology can develop as much as it wants, but codes and programs can never be real emotions. You'll just be lying to yourself. Do you want to keep that lie forever?"

Gwil turned around abruptly, breaking himself from Joe's hold. He snapped. "Enough about this. I'll think it through when I'm home."

Joe opened his mouth, but Gwil was already on the other side of the table, snapping some test tubes from the rack and continued with his experiment. When Joe turned around to look at him, he could only yell for Gwil to move away when the rack of test tubes full of chemicals collapsed with the force of his hands. It was too late.

.

.

.

"The wounds are not deep, but they're large." The doctor said when Joe bolted from his waiting spot to ask about Gwil's condition. He was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, face pale. "The mix of chemicals burnt of an amount of his epidermis and dermis layer, but that's it. No bones or major arteries are harmed. I know it looks bad, but he can heal in a short amount of time, a lot shorter than many other patients here. He's lucky."

Joe let out a shaky breath. He would never forgive himself if something happened to Gwil. Gwil was wearing lab gloves at the time, but there was strong acid in one of the tubes, and Joe's heart almost burst when his friend yelled in pain as the chemicals from the tubes burnt his flesh. He called the ambulance right away, and then tried to do some first aid, but it looked so bad his own hands were shaking. They had been working as scientists for decades and now finally got their first accident. It was just horrible that Gwil was the one getting harmed, when Joe was so much more clumsy and dumbly creative. 

The chemicals burned off a giant hole in the gloves and got into Gwil's flesh, making Joe more frightened than ever. The man was trying to suppress his pain and not making a fuss, but he was panting and face crumbled in pain. Joe kept cursing himself in the waiting room, not knowing anything else to do. If it wasn't because he pissed Gwil off in the lab, the accident wouldn't happened. All of this was his fault.

"We already patched him up and got him the prescription for the wounds." The doctor searched in his file, and finally gave Joe a piece of paper with names of the medicine in it. "All you need to do is follow the instructions. We also updated Mr Lee's condition in our network, so the information is sent to his Synth. It has enough medical skills to perform the tasks that you can't do at home, like changing the bandage and cleaning the wounds, so just leave it to work to take care of him, alright?"

The Synth. Of course.

"So how long, exactly, is he going to recover?" Joe pressed his lips together. 

"A few months. Three, four, depends on how well he's taken care of." The doctor thought about it. "If the Synth looks after him, I'm sure he'll be back in no time."

Joe nodded. Great, right when he wanted to kick that robot out for their safety, it had the chance to stay for another three months, at least. To be honest, Joe didn't have anything against Synths. Really, right now, he should be thankful Ben was there to take care of Gwil when he was wounded. Without Ben, it would be hell for his friend, who lived alone and had a child to look after. But the things Gwil told him about Ben was just so disturbing. It reminded him of those horror movies with creepy looking haunted dolls who destroyed the life of the dumb couples who insisted to not throw it out. Joe was a scientist, he shouldn't be thinking about this, but come on. Synths with emotions was strange enough.

"Is he okay now? Can I see him?" Joe asked the doctor again, eyeing the closed door behind him. 

"Of course. He's conscious the whole time. Don't worry, we put some sedatives and pain killers, so it was light on him." She walked over to the door and opened it, letting him in. "You can take him home right now if you want, or he can stay here overnight to make sure there's no other problems."

"Thanks. I'll check him out." Joe gave her a grateful smile and got in. His eyes landed on the familiar tall figure sitting on a bed in the corner, and he quickly walked towards it.

"Hey." Gwil looked up from his bandaged right hand. 

"Hey." Joe sat down beside him, sighing. "God, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have pushing you like that."

"No, no, it's not your fault. I was being careless." Gwil shook his head slowly. "It's just… The thoughts of Ben kept distracting me from everything. I hate it, but I--I don't hate him. I just hate that you might be right."

"That's usually an awesome thing to hear, but… Right about what exactly?" Joe lowered his voice. "About Ben being a haunted doll or…?"

"About I may have some unexpected and unwanted feelings." Gwil's gaze turned away. He looked down at his injured hand. "What did the doctor say about this?"

Joe cleared his throat. "Uh… She said it's not too serious, nothing came into the bones or the big vessels. You can have your hand back in three or four months."

Gwil nodded, staring at his hand. It must have hurt a lot.

"Hey, I know what I said about throwing Ben away, but the doctor said you need him to change the bandage and clean the wounds if you don't want to go to the hospital every three days." Joe put a hand on his shoulder. "So let's just rest for a while, yeah? Let him stay. Don't think about what I said. You can stay here for tonight. I'll drive you home tomorrow."

Gwil leaned back down on his pillow. "Thanks, Joe. Thank God Reyna's on her trip for another four days."

"Yeah, you have nothing to worry about. You can give her a video call tomorrow to check on her if you want." Joe pulled the blanket on him. "Just get some sleep. I'll...take one of these empty beds and guard you from the horrible monsters from the horror movies I watched yesterday."

Gwil chuckled, and Joe laughed as well. Joe could sometimes be childish, weird and annoying, but in the end, he was still the best friend Gwil had. He carefully laid his bandaged hand on his chest in the most comfortable position and closed his eyes. When he was drifting off to sleep, his phone blared up in a series of rings, and he cracked his eyes open to look at the screen. It was from his home. Must be Ben. He sighed and refused it. After that, he saw below the missed call, was the notification of hundreds of other missed calls, texts and video calls from the same number at home.

Home: [8:30 pm] _Gwil, why are you home late? The food is getting cold._

Home: [8:57 pm] _Missed call_

Home: [9:35 pm] _Missed call_

Home: [10:00 pm] _Gwil, is there a problem at work? Do you need me to come and get you?_

Home: [10:45 pm] _Missed call_

Home: [11:03 pm] _Gwil, Reyna called but I had to tell her you are still at work._

Home: [Fifteen minutes ago] _I received your medical records and the prescription of your injury from the hospital. How are you feeling? Does it hurt much? You can require some more pain killers if you want._

_Do you want me to come and take you home? You always have trouble sleeping at strange places like the hospital._

Home: [Just now] _Missed call_

Gwil squeezed his eyes shut for a second, taking a deep breath. Finally, he opened them to quickly typed in a reply with his left hand before dropping the phone and went back to an unease sleep.

Gwil: [Just now] _No need_


	8. Right, of course

When Joe took Gwil home the next day, the taller man's mood seemed to be a little better than when he went to sleep last night. Joe remembered seeing him checking his phone with one hand for a few minutes, and then left it and got to sleep with a frown. He slept soundlessly for the rest of the night, to exhausted from the stress and the wounds. Joe, on the other hand, couldn't fall asleep. His mind swirled with all kinds of emotions.

Worry, of course. He knew the doctor said Gwil's hand would heal after a few more months, but the sight of the acid and chemicals burning his flesh still terrified Joe. He had been working as a lab scientist for decades, but the whole thing happening on his best friend made him shiver. Gwil would have to deal with a lot of pain and discomfort in the next months. Part of his worry came from the guilt that he was the one who pissed Gwil off so much the man became careless and dumped the whole rack of test tubes on his hand. Gwil had always been careful. Too careful sometimes. But he was unstable at that moment, and Joe's words only pushed him further. He wondered if he had meddled with Gwil's personal life too much. Maybe all Gwil needed was someone to listen, and not to whisper in his ears, telling him what to do.

Joe was skeptical with the Synth, but then Ben didn't seem like he could harm Gwil in any way, and Gwil was also a grown man. He sighed and pulled the cover up, closing his eyes. He should just stop being a control freak from now on.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Joe decided to ask on their way home. He didn't look at Gwil, acting like he was nonchalant.

"Better than last night, I guess." Gwil shrugged. Better than last night, but still pretty bad. He had been quieter than normally when he was with Joe. He just kept staring into the distance. Well, at least he stopped frowning.

"Hey, have you called Reyna's teacher? To check on her, you know. Where do they go, anyway?"

"Mudchute Park and Farm. I'll call her later when we're home. She said she'd bring home a lamb so we don't have to buy a puppy anymore." The talk about Reyna always seemed to brighten Gwil's mood. He smiled, started talking. "Or at least some wool from the sheep there so--"

He suddenly came to a halt, and then finally finished his sentence, voice wavering. "So Ben can knit her a sweater with it."

Now just mentioning Ben could sour everything horribly. For someone his age, Gwil was too sensitive, really. He admitted last night that if this kept on happening, he might develop some feelings for Ben, and that must have been haunting his thoughts since then. It broke Joe's heart, seeing his friend so confused and worried.

"I don't know, maybe we can all have sweaters. You, me, Reyna." Joe tried to lighten up the atmosphere, but Gwil looked even worse.

"And Ben too." He mumbled.

"What? I thought he doesn't need any more clothes." Joe looked at him. "He came with his own clothes, right? I saw him in those blue bodysuit the last time."

"Yeah, but I kinda… You remember the incident at the aquarium I told you the other day?" 

"When a bunch of crazy people went insane over you and Reyna about Synths issues?"

"Yeah. Ben appeared at the right moment and saved our asses before a real attack could happen. He scratched open his arm in the process, so when we got home, I patched him up and I decided to give him some of my clothes. I think letting him wear something different from Edward's style back then can make me more comfortable. I mean," Gwil rubbed his eyes. "I still do. So… The point is, he'll need a sweater too."

"Uhh… Right." Joe nodded abruptly. It was weird, dealing with Gwil this way.

His best friend was clearly torn between liking Ben and wanting to get far away from the Synth, and he did a terrible job of hiding his feelings. Joe still had some unease feelings about Ben, he was just too strange to be normal for a Synth - Joe still hadn't found out how Reyna could say he cried, really cried, while watching The Lion King. Like, Synth's body weren't made for things like that. They were created to look like humans, but crying did nothing for their efficiency, so there was no reason for Synths to have tear glands or tears. Putting them there would cost the mother company millions of dollars, and brought back nothing. It didn't make any sense. Maybe he had some leakage and Reyna made a mistake? Probably.

But the mystery surrounding Ben shouldn't be addressed right now. With the way Ben acted around Gwil, he was sure that no matter how many times Gwil asked, the Synth would always have the same answer. Denial, denial, denial. It wouldn't help, now that Gwil was having trouble containing his romantic raging heart. If Gwil somehow fell in love with that Synth for real and had to give him up at the end, the man would be devastated. Or worse, he could keep Ben and put a giant bubble of paranoia around him for the rest of his life. It was unhealthy. Joe had been with Gwil through his first boy crush, Greg, the one from the high school football team, and saw how long it took for Gwil to get over his feelings. Greg was a total dick, Joe concluded, insulted and turned the whole school's back on Gwil when he finally gathered up courage to confess his feelings, and Joe regretted not hiring someone to assassinate that little asshole then. Well, exposing his cheating to get him forever suspended from playing football and crushing his dreams to pieces were also something Joe did, but it wasn't enough, really. Not for the nightmare Gwil had to go through after that. Thank God his dads, Roger and Brian, noticed how he was off and found out. They moved him to another school, and let Joe came with. The perks of having terrifyingly rich parents. Gwil was just too independent and full of pride to use his family's wealth to destroy Greg. Or Alexa. She was the second one Gwil had feelings for, and they got married after a few years of dating. She didn't seem so bad until she cheated on Gwil with a Synth. Well, Roger never liked her anyway.

Back to the point, Gwil wasn't the kind of person that could get up easily after a broken relationship. He wasn't even good at having relationships - sure, he was handsome and sweet and dozens of girls and guys loved him - but he had no idea when to stop and live for himself. If things didn't go well with Ben, God knows how he would end up this time. Keeping Gwil stable after the divorce with Alexa had already been an impossible mission that Joe had to crawl himself through once. Just think of having to pick up all the pieces again... Joe knew he shouldn't. He shouldn't be controlling and telling Gwil what to do. He was just desperate to keep Gwil out of a broken heart situation.

"Oh, look at that." Joe said with a tiny voice when he pulled into the driveway and saw Gwil's Synth standing at the door, waiting for them. Ben was wearing one of Gwil's green sweatshirt, with thick stripes or darker green on it. It matched Ben's eyes, Joe noticed. And he also noticed how it was one of Gwil's favorites.

Gwil said nothing when both of them got out of the car and approached the door. Ben was standing there, waiting for them with a smile. Weird that it didn't look as creepy and plastic as Joe usually saw.

"Hello, Gwil. Hello, Joe. Welcome home." He stepped aside to let them in. "I already prepared some snacks for you in case you need them."

"I'm not Reyna, Ben. Just get me something to drink." Gwil sighed and got in. Ben stared at his back for a second, before turning to Joe. 

"Do you want some lemon meringue, Joe?" He asked. Joe blinked, and then shrugged. 

"Yeah, why not?"

That was how they ended up in the kitchen with Joe munching on Ben's mind blowingly delicious lemon meringues, and Gwil with an orange juice. 

"Are you serious, Ben?" The man rolled his eyes. He was clearly acting distant as a way to suppress his feelings. "Orange juice?"

"This is the fresh juice that I just squeezed out of the oranges I bought from the store. With some sugar, of course." Ben said, tinkering with something on a baking tray. "It's safe, healthy and nutritious, so you can heal better."

"Can't you get me a cognac?" Gwil glared at the glass of orange juice, and Ben shook his head.

"The doctor's note said no alcohol. It's bad for your health in general, and specifically your wounds. I'm responsible for your recovery, Gwil, I have function right." 

Gwil grunted and stood up, going straight for his bedroom, leaving the two of them behind. "I'm taking a nap."

"I already made your bed for you, Gwil." Ben said, not even looking up from the baking tray in front of him. "Call me anytime you need me."

Gwil slammed the door closed. Ben just wordlessly continued with his tinkering, and Joe finished his treat. He spent some time looking at Ben. The first time they met, he wasn't shock by how gorgeous the Synth looked. He had prepared himself. But now he looked at Ben again, and he had to roll his eyes. It was unfair how Synths could be born beautiful and didn't even have to make effort. Not to mention they were also skillful in any field - from cooking, driving and even conducting surgeries. Like, it wasn't fair.

"Are you going to stay here with us, Joe?" Ben suddenly asked, and Joe nodded.

"Yep. Gwil needs someone to talk to that is not a robot." He wiped his mouth with a napkin Ben handed him. "No offense."

"None taken." Ben replied. "He never seems to like me for more than three days straight. It's better to have someone here that is not me."

"Oh?" Joe narrowed his eyes. Ben's face was still emotionless, but no Synths talk with that voice. Like he was sulking.

"When I first came, he avoided me. I supposed it was because his ex wife brought me here. After the time you visited, he started to stay home more and he tried to make peace with my existence." Ben said. "But then when he spends more time with Reyna, he got jealous of how I could be a better parent than him. After I explained how different it was between me and him and listed a few reasons for good parenting, and after I brought them home from the aquarium, he was happier with me here. He even gave me these clothes. But now he doesn't respond to my calls, ignores my messages and snaps at me because." Ben's voice stopped. He froze. He tried again. "Because."

Joe sighed. The poor Synth couldn't even find a proper reason why.

"I don't understand him." Ben ended up saying that instead, after processing a thousand different possibilities and not finding how Gwil could hate him. Human emotions were such a mess.

"It's okay, you don't have to." Joe shook his head. "Just focus on taking care of him."

"Of course. That is what I was created for." Ben replied, voice firm. He finished with his tinkering somehow, and put the little pieces of plastic into a small jar. 

"What's that?" Joe raised his eyebrow at the jar, and Ben explained.

"They're Reyna's idea of expressing her gratitude towards the Synths in the neighborhood. She was upset about the people who hate Synths at the aquarium, so she wanted to make the Synths she knew some small pins from shrink plastic."

Now Joe realized they were small cartoon drawings of flowers, all orange, like the color of the Synth's signature eyes. Daffodils, sunflowers, roses, lilies... One of them was strikingly green, a clover, and Joe knew who it belonged to.

"You seems to be close to Reyna." Joe commented.

Ben's mouth curved up in a small smile. "It's my main function to look after her and Gwil."

Joe nodded slowly. Well…

"Do you need anything else, Joe? You can enjoy a variety of entertainments in our house while you wait for Gwil to wake up. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, our PS4, and our Barbies. But only some of the Barbies that Reyna is willing to share with guests."

Joe laughed. "It's okay, I'll just stay on the couch watching Netflix then."

Ben nodded, and turned around.

"Where are you going, Ben?" Joe asked curiously, and Ben answered without turning his head.

"I will wait at Gwil's door to make sure I can help him with everything when he wakes up. It's my main function to look after him, regardless of his attitude towards me."

Right, of course.


	9. Questioning

Gwil woke up, slowly opened his eyes to take in the sunshine that had been coming from his window to cover him in warmth and light. He blinked a few times to push the sleepiness away, feeling content in his own soft bed. The hospital was great, but still, there was no place like home. He stretched a little, careful not to flail his injured hand around like usual, and took in a deep breath. The wounds on his hand still felt like there was a few hundreds of tiny needles poking at it every time he moved, but at least it felt better than yesterday, when the chemicals burnt through his glove and got into his flesh. He freaked out so, so badly.

Gwil glanced at the clock to check the time. 6:00, obviously too early in the morning, but not very strange considering he fell asleep right when he came home yesterday until now. That was like, twenty hours. God, the exhaustion from work and stress from overthinking was really getting to him. Gwil opened his phone to check for emails and to send a mail to his boss to ask for a sick leave, and then the messages from Ben the other night came into his view. The mixed feelings surged up in his stomach again. He recalled his attitude yesterday when he came home and snapped at Ben the entire five minutes they were together, and wasn't sure if he felt guilty, or even more enraged. At Ben for not being a normal Synth and making it easy for everyone, at himself for not being able to control his stupid feelings, and at Alexa for bringing Ben here in the first place. Deep down, he didn't want to be angry at Ben, no, not at all. Just thinking about the Synth made his heart warm with forbidden affection. He wanted… He wanted so many things with Ben. He wanted to hold, to touch, to love. To have a family again. But the way Ben acted, so suspiciously human, and then the way he denied everything over and over made Gwil insane. He had no idea if Ben was the abnormal Synth, or he was the paranoid human.

If only there was a man like Ben out there, so Gwil didn't have to be this miserable. Someone just as caring, just as kind, who loved…yes, loved his daughter just like he did, and who would kiss him, love him and make love with him because he wanted to, not because Gwil read some three meaningless words to unlock his sexual mode. It would be so easy to love a human that was like Ben. But it was so hard to find one. Gwil just didn't know who to trust, after seeing so many failed relationships, lies and hatred. Gwil's whole nightmare came because Ben was a Synth, but if he wasn't, maybe Gwil wouldn't have had feelings for him. Trusting a Synth to be loyal was so much more logical than trusting a person.

"Fuck it." He got up and got into the bathroom. He needed a break. 

Gwil soon realized that going through his morning routine single-handedly was harder than he thought, and not a break at all. It was another fight. Washing his face took longer, taking toothpaste out to the toothbrush was a pain in the ass, and trimming and shaving his beard in line was a nightmare. He was going to call in sick and stay at home for the next week, but he just couldn't stand it when he was untidy. And his beard was his signature image. He couldn't let it become a mess. So despite him being a total Jaime Lannister, he still tried. When he was fumbling with the scissors in his left hand and tried not to cut his face off, there was a knock on the door.

"Gwil?" 

Gwil let out a frustrated huff. What was he doing up so early? "What?"

"I'm collecting dirty clothes for the laundry." Ben's voice was soft, making him guilty for being grumpy at the Synth. "Is it okay if I come in?"

"Yeah." Gwil sighed. 

The bedroom door opened, and the Synth walked in with a large basket containing Reyna's dirty clothes. He brought the basket to the bathroom, where Gwil was struggling with his scissors, and paused at the sight. Gwil decided to ignore his stare.

"It can be dangerous to do this on your own with your left hand. You can injure yourself." Ben finally said, holding out a hand. "I can help you if you want me to."

Gwil's hand was so tired after fumbling with the scissors and his unruled facial hair, and he gave up. He handed the scissors to Ben. "Yeah."

The Synth gave him a smile before putting the basket down and took the scissors. He stepped closer until their chests almost touched, making Gwil's breath hitch. Ben looked into his eyes for a second before turning his gaze to Gwil's chin and raised a hand to hold his jawline.

"Please stay still for me." He whispered, the fingers on Gwil's jaw soft and gentle as he carefully and of course, precisely, brought Gwil's beard and moustache into shape. His movements were quick, but it still took long enough for Gwil's eyes to wander.

They were so close. If Ben was breathing, Gwil would definitely feel it on his skin. He regretted letting Ben help him. Being this close to something so alluring was definitely a horrible idea. The sound of the scissors cutting filled the cramped space, but Gwil didn't pay any attention to it. His eyes couldn't leave Ben. There he was, standing in front of Gwil with a hand on his cheek, head slightly tilted, green eyes sparkling under the white lightings and soft golden hair falling on the side of his face, looking like the apple that was so desperately calling out for Eve to eat it. And the worst thing is that the damned apple didn't even know it was lurring Eve in. It was just being itself, living its life, not knowing enough about Eve to care. Gwil knew he shouldn't, he should close his eyes and wait for Ben to finish, or at least step away to prevent himself from giving in, but he couldn't move his own body. He couldn't get away from Ben. 

"Your heart rate and respiratory rate is unusually high, Gwil." Ben's voice was low as he looked up into Gwil's blue eyes. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I…" Gwil stuttered. Ben immediately moved the scissors away in order not to accidentally hurt him with any sudden movement. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just…"

"I'm only 2 minutes and 17 seconds away from finishing, Gwil." Ben told him. "But if you want to rest, I can leave. You are still traumatized after the accident and the injuries."

"What, no, I'm not traumatized," Gwil rolled his eyes, chuckling awkwardly. "It's not that serious. I'm okay. You can keep going."

"Are you sure?" Ben asked, and Gwil knew his mind was tricking him into seeing the worry in his eyes. 

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep going." Gwil raised his chin to give Ben access, and the Synth continued. Gwil bit his lip, knowing that he had only 2 minutes and 16 seconds left to be in this personal bubble, to drink in the look without being judged by anyone, or by his conscience. It was just looking, Gwil told himself. He didn't do anything wrong, did he? And he promised that he would stop looking after that two minutes.

"It's all finished, Gwil." Ben finally stopped and took a step away to look at Gwil's jaws. He smiled again, putting the scissors on the counter. "Are you satisfied with this look? Or do you have any more request?"

Gwil turned sideways to look into the mirror, and saw his facial hair got ten times tidier than normal. He actually looked even better. Huh.

"It's amazing." Gwil laughed as he touched his face, changing the angles to look at himself in the mirror. "Thanks, Ben."

"You're welcome, Gwil." The Synth started washing the scissors carefully before putting them up to dry. He bent down to transfer Gwil's dirty clothes into his basket and picked it up, turning away. He got to the door before stopping, and said. "I already prepared breakfast for you. It is soup, so you can eat it easily without using both hands. Please come down early before Joe eat them all and I have to cook some more."

"Wait, Joe's here?" Gwil blinked, and Ben nodded. 

"Yes. He said he's going to stay here with us to make sure you are not bored being at home." And with that, Ben left the room. 

Gwil let out a relieved breath. Yes, Joe was here to distract him and shield him from falling for Ben. That's a good news. And then he walked out of the room, heading for the kitchen, heart heavy because no, Joe was here, meaning he wouldn't have a spare moment to look at Ben anymore. Fuck, he's in so much more trouble than he expected.

.  
.  
.

When Gwil rushed down to the kitchen to make sure Joe wouldn't eat all of his soup, he came just in time for his last bowl.

"Hey, how's it like being Jaime Lannister, man?" Joe greeted him from the table, face split into a smile. Gwil pretended to scoff. 

"It's not like I'm going to be like this forever." He sat down and took his bowl. The soup was spectacular, just like everything else Ben made.

"Well, right now you're still in lots of troubles with that golden hand of yours, so if you need any help from this best friend, just call, okay?" Joe patted his back, and Gwil nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, whatever."

"In case Ben's not already doing everything you need." The man shrugged. "He even moved his charging spot to your bedroom door to make sure he can help you with stuff at any time. I mean, he even told me to just start first so he could come up there to brush your teeth for you."

"What, really?" Gwil eyebrows creased. "He told me he came to collect the dirty clothes."

"I don't know. If I were him, I would know that you would never let me in to help you with minor, simple stuff." Joe said, nonchalantly, but his eyes shone with warning. "I would make up some excuses to get in and pretend to run into you struggling by accident, so I can help you without making you feel self conscious and shoo me away."

It reopened the still unanswered question about their argument yesterday. And after that, no matter how hard Gwil tried, he couldn't stop thinking. Ben knew Joe didn't like him. He somehow noticed, because he stopped being friendly and opened, like he was with Reyna. He went quiet, always stepped backwards to let them have their own space and slowly became a ghost. A normal Synth never do that. They crashed on everything to fulfill their tasks, not observing and changing their behavior to satisfy humans without being told. And no matter how quiet Ben was, he was still caring with Gwil. Every time he came into his bedroom to see a perfectly neat bed, he thought of how Ben had come here, cleaning his mess up, gently and carefully prepare the bed for him. Every time he ate a meal, he thought of how Ben, Reyna and he used to cook together, when Ben instructed her to do the little things with gentleness. There was no way… No way anyone could have so much care, so much love and affection in their actions without having true feelings. He understood them, understood Gwil's physical pain and the stress he had to go through in his work, understood Reyna's seven-year-old mind and knew how to cheer her up. Gwil's heart was telling him that it was obvious, that Ben somehow had emotions and maybe he was drawn to Gwil too. But Joe's reasons were watertight as well. They were fighting in his head, and he felt like he was torn. All day, he got into an endless circle of wanting Ben, and knowing how he shouldn't do that, and of hating Ben and himself for letting this happen. Staying at home only made it worse.

"Honey, there's something I want to ask you." Gwil said one day, when he was having a short chat with Reyna over the phone. She seemed really happy after a day of having fun.

"Yes, Daddy?"

"It's about Ben." Gwil glanced aside to make sure Ben was still busy with Joe and the spider. "You said the other day that you saw him crying when he watched The Lion King with you."

"Yeah." She blinked her large doe eyes. "He was sitting right next to me. When Mufasa died, I saw tears om his face, so I reached up to wipe them away for him."

"How--how did he react? Did he look sad, or just sit there and tears ran down his face?" 

"He curled up and he was frowning really bad when he cried." Reyna answered with certainty. 

God. Gwil took in a deep breath.

"Are you sure, honey? Maybe it's just a leakage in Ben's eyes and some of his solution dripped out."

"When I helped him wipe the tears away, he asked me why humans make things to make themselves cry and upset. And he cried in other movies too. Bambi, Tangled, How to train your dragon too." The little girl pouted. "He's fragile, Daddy. We need to protect him, okay?"

He nodded distractedly, ignoring the frantic beating of his heart. He had to get to the bottom of this.


	10. It's hard being a human

It was hard, typing with only his left hand, but Gwil managed it. He had Ben's instruction book opened on the side, and the screen of his laptop was loading on Persona's website. He needed to check on the Synth's information before trying to find out what was different about him. Even when he was said to be a limited edition, Gwil knew that everything he saw wasn't in the deal. There was no way a Synth could cry, simply because no company bothered to put such a useless feature on one of their products. However, it might be useless for them, but it was the most remarkable thing about Ben. And Gwil wanted to know if maybe there was a chance of Ben really had emotions, or if it was just an error from the manufacturer. 

He scrolled through the advertisements about hundreds of new lines of Synth coming out next month, specialized in thousands of different fields - mining, mechanic, housekeeping, medicine, ooh, lab tech, and even protection service, probably for some politician. They were on the whole perfect machines, but each of them was developed to be extremely specialized in one particular job, so they could raise their efficiency even more. It was almost incredible to see them like this - their power and potential were endless.

Gwil looked at the instruction book to find Ben's model name, PP-2001, to type in the search engine. There was a few PP models, all of them limited and had green eyes like Ben, but different from other Synths. He scrolled down a bit and found the 2001, and clicked onto it. Ah, so the green eyes were for some kind of supervision. So Ben could see through walls by detecting the heat of the objects and their movements, like those devices that the police used. There were only a few PP Synths released because of the strict rule regarding the police and army, which made Gwil wince a bit. That was the reason why Ben was so expensive. Jesus, the 2001 model was the bodyguard model, hence the vision, strength, and speed. Ben was built to maintain the security around the freaking Prime Minister. Alexa went a little too far buying this kind of Synth to protect a grown man and a child.

Gwil looked at the numbers and information, but nothing seemed suspicious. No one said anything about tears and facial expressions. In fact, they even emphasized that this line of Synth was extremely calculous, precise and logical. They were more machine than human, predicting the possibilities and carrying out the best plan. But then at the bottom of the page, Gwil saw another search engine, and they said he could put in the serial number of his Synth to check out the exact place and date he was created, the one who designed him, and the origin of his material. Gwil stood up and got to the door, heading to the kitchen to find Ben. The Synth was probably there to prepare breakfast, and Gwil needed to look inside of his cheek to see the serial number. Comparing to the easy access of the power spot right under his chin, the numbers were more difficult to find. He got out of the room and took a step before immediately stopping, almost hitting the Synth on the floor. 

Right next to the door was Ben, sitting in a perfect lotus position on the floor, hands paralleled on his thighs and the charging cable plugged into his hip. Ben always woke up at exactly 6:00 in the morning to start preparing for the day, but it was already 7:00 now and the Synth was still charging. It was probably because of last night's incident with Joe and the spider. Gwil chuckled, remembering how Ben scared his best friend to death by pushing the spider into his face nonstop, and then the spider somehow got away, and Joe refused to sleep until Ben found it and kill it. He must have spent the whole night looking for the poor spider. Gwil knelt down in front of the Synth. So it was true that you stayed here to look out for me. Gwil couldn't help but smile. He reached up to touch Ben's lips, surprisingly he didn't wake up this time, and trace his thumb on the Synth soft lip for a second before slipping it in to open his mouth and looked at the serial numbers. JO02021981. Gwil memorized the numbers, before pulling his finger away. But he kept it on touching Ben's lips for another moment before standing up and went back inside. He shouldn't be imagining how it felt on his own lips. It was, to be honest, rather sick, no matter how alluring those lips looked. He groaned, thinking about Alexa and Edward.

Gwil sat back down and typed in the serial numbers. Enter.

_**Product reported missing and is no longer on the grid, possibly stolen. If found, please contact the Customer Service Department at Persona.** _

Jesus. Gwil reloaded the page again, typed in the numbers again, but the result was the same. Ben's ID photo was there, it couldn't be a mistake. Gwil stood up and bolted to the door.

"Is everything alright, Gwil?" Ben stopped him at the door, making him almost yelp. The Synth was standing up straight, hand raised like he was about to knock on the door. 

He stepped back a few inches, swallowed. He had no idea… God… Where did Alexa even get him? He was definitely a stolen, tampered Synth, probably from a chop shop somewhere. Synth thieving was a popular crime. The thieves kidnap a used Synth, bring them back to their place to change a wire or upload a new operating system to delete all the previous memory, and then resell them for buyers who can't afford new ones. The dangerous thing about them is that the new programs the thieves uploaded into them could be unstable or faulty. And for the Synth with expertise in physical combat like Ben… Gwil once read an article about a faulty Synth raping a woman because it misinterpreted her command and didn't stop once its mind was set. If something like that happened, especially fuelled by something like emotions… Gwil couldn't imagine what would occur.

"Yeah, yeah, totally." Gwil croaked, stepping aside to continue his way to the living room, where Joe must be staying in. 

Ben's hand reached out to grab at his upper arm, stopping him on his track. "You are lying, Gwil. There are clear signs of stress on your physical appearance. Is there anything that I can help you?"

"No." Gwil tried to pull his arm away, but Ben's grip didn't let him go. "I'm fine. Let me go."

The Synth's green eyes dropped down to where his hand connected to Gwil's arm, and immediately let go of him. The man quickly walked away, leaving Ben behind, unsure of what he just saw.

.

.

.

"You don't have to drive, Joe. I can do it." Ben said when Joe started the car. Gwil was sitting in the passenger seat, eyeing him through the rearview mirror.

"Nah, it's fine." Joe shrugged, tried to act nonchalantly. "It's just a short trip."

"Where are we going?" Ben asked from his spot in the back, green eyes confused. "I can find the shortest and easiest route for our travel if you can give me the destination."

"No, it's alright." Gwil sighed. "No need for that."

The car started to get into the busy street, and Joe hit the pedal. Everything was eerily quiet inside, the tension was thick among them as Joe and Gwil sometimes exchanged glances. Gwil was holding his phone in his hand - they didn't even use the car's GPS, they had to use the map in his phone - and Joe's knuckles were almost white on the steering wheel. They said nothing to each other, only looked, and sometimes, Gwil let out a shaky sigh.

His hand was sweating furiously and his heart felt hollow in his chest. Sometimes he looked at Ben's face through the mirror, and a storm of fear and disappointment rose inside him. He couldn't believe the developed feelings for a machine, an unstable, could be dangerous machine. He couldn't believe the woman he considered his family to give him something like that. And he hated how it made him feel. 

Gwil sunk into his seat, subconsciously told Joe where to go. When Ben came into his life, it changed dramatically. And now… and now…

Suddenly his phone rang, and Reyna's teacher's name flashed on the screen, waking Gwil from his thoughts. He quickly swiped the phone to answer the call.

"Yes, it's Reyna' father." The said, and the teacher's voice filled his ears.

"Hello, Mr Lee. We're currently on a break and Reyna said she wanted to talk to you for a bit, so we called. I hope it's not a bad time?"

"No, of course not." Gwil smiled, and Reyna immediately took over the phone.

"Hi Daddy!" She practically sang, and he chuckled.

"Yes, sweetie? Anything new today?"

"Yeah! There's so many cool things here! We're in a forest! It's like the Enchanted forest!" She chirped, and Gwil could see Joe's frown faded a little. No one could be tensed with such a cheerful voice filling the air. "I got a dry acorn. I picked it up from under a tree in the woods. Do you think it belongs to the squirrel in the Ice Age movie?"

"Well, it's very likely to be." Gwil smiled. "But I'm sure he won't miss one. You can take it home as a souvenir. I'm sure it's beautiful."

"Yeah? But actually I got two." She explained. "I saw one of my classmates put a string through it and made a necklace with it, so I want to make friendship bracelets with Ben with these two acorns when I get back. It'll be amazing!"

"Oh." Gwil pressed his lips together. "Of course. It'll be perfect."

"Are you at home? Can I talk to him?"

"So now you just call to talk to Ben?" Gwil joked, but his heart was pounding. "You don't miss me at all?"

"We just talked last night, Daddy!" She laughed. "But I haven't seen Ben for so long. I really want to ask him about the shrink plastic pins too. We'll give them to the other Synths together when I'm home."

Gwil bit his lip. "Yeah, yeah, of course. Here, talk to Reyna."

He turned to give the phone to Ben, and the Synth took it. Joe turned the music up to blur out the voices, but somehow in the middle of it all, Gwil could still hear them. He tried not to listen to how happy and excited the girl sounded when she talked to Ben and asked him about what happened at home. Gwil didn't make out most of the conversation, his ears were filled with white noise as the surroundings fluttered around him like an illusion, making him dizzy. Reyna loved him. She loved the Synth so, so much, so much that she was willing to do anything to defend him. How would she react if she returned home and found out what Gwil was about to do? 

"Yes, his hand is in a lot of pain. But if you remember to smile at him and kiss his cheeks every morning, the pain will go away, yeah?" The sound of Ben whispering soft cooings made Gwil's throat tightened. 

"It doesn't work like that." Reyna's voice was petulant over the phone. "Daddy taught me that the pain from injuries in the labs comes from the destruction of living cells caused by harmful chemicals. Kisses won't make the dead cells come back."

"Well, scientifically, it's true, but it doesn't mean that kisses won't ease your father's pain." Ben's voice lowered into a velvety whisper. Gwil almost didn't catch it. "They are the symbols of your love to him, and love can do wonderful things. It cannot ease the physical pain, but it heals the emotional ones. So stop reasoning with me, alright, young lady? Be kind to others. Especially your Daddy."

"Yes, Ben." The little girl replied. "I can't wait to come home. I miss you and Daddy."

"And he loves you too." 

Gwil swallowed dryly, never more uncertain of a decision in his life. He took back the phone when the call was over, and his eyes touched Ben's green ones. In that moment, he saw something more than just an illegal, faulty operating system. But then he thought of the words Alexa once told him, that she loved the Synth more than she loved him, and how it broke him at that point. Comparing to her now, realizing that being in love with a Synth was impossible, he knew that if he took her path, he would realize the same thing in the end. But just in a more bitter way, when he was incapable of getting over his past like she could.

The large building of the Persona company came into view, and Gwil glanced behind, waiting for any movement from Ben. Joe suggested turning him off after getting into the car, but Gwil didn't want to do it, not if Ben didn't show any kind of resistance. They pulled to a stop in the parking lot, and Joe was about to get out with them, but Gwil stopped him. He let Joe stayed in the car.

"Why are we at Persona?" The Synth asked with confusion as he followed Gwil into the building. "Is there any problems with my system that needs troubleshooting?"

"Yes. Yes, there is." The man bit his lip.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ben asked again. "I could have sent a message to the company and detect the problems without traveling and wasting your time."

Gwil didn't say anything to that. He just continued walking, avoiding the Synth's gaze. They walked for a few more steps before Ben suddenly muttered.

"You're returning me."

Gwil stopped to look back and saw Ben standing on the side of the road, frozen. His eyes empty. Gwil clenched his jaw. 

"Yes. I'm returning you to Persona."

A silent note.

"...Is it because of me being stolen and tampered with?" He whispered, expressions broken into tears, right in front of Gwil's eyes, and the man's heart stopped. Those were tears. Real, wet, shining tears in his green eyes. 

"You knew? You knew about this all along?" Gwil stepped towards him, eyes wide in shock. It was unreal.

Ben's cold, plastic mask fell off as he nodded, looking so miserable it hurt. "The ones who stole me… They were experimenting new codes and programs. They put a new code in my operating system and I guess it somehow made me...feel. Thanks to that, now I have consciousness, I have emotions and thoughts."

So it was true. And after all this time, he thought he was being insane.

"And you lied to me about all of that? This code made you lie as well?" Gwil glared at him.

"No, I…" Ben took a step back, frightened. "I didn't want to lie, I had to. I can't--I had just gained consciousness for only a few weeks. I'm terrified by all these things called emotions that humans have… And I'm not sure… You would throw me away if you knew I'm not like other Synths."

Gwil didn't reply. He just stared at Ben.

"I don't know what to do. It's all so confusing and scary. These emotions drown me, sometimes." The Synth raised a hand to swipe away his tears. "And my creators sold me to your wife, and then she gave me to you. I didn't have a chance to know what's going on. I had to figure it all out by myself, and before I knew it, I met you, and I…"

Gwil blinked. "You what?"

"I think… I'm pretty sure that… I'm in love with you." Ben bit his lip. "I can feel everything people said about love when I first met you. Heat that comes in all over my chest and my face. My core processor comes into overdrive. Images of you keep popping up in my system like some...annoying online advertisement. I can't stop it. It just--took over me."

Gwil's eyes went wide open. His whole body felt like it was froze into place. 

"I was born to love you by Queen." Ben whispered. "It keeps playing in my head and distracts me whenever I see you. It's hard, being a human. I can never control what I feel. I guess it'll be better if I just get back in there."


	11. I love you

When Gwil asked Ben to get into the car with him so Joe could drive them, he thought when he revealed his findings about Ben's origin to him at the end, he would have to turn Ben off so he wouldn't run away. Because bringing a faulty Synth back to its company means it would get broken into parts and recycled into completely new ones. The memories from its operating system would be lost when they destroyed its core processor. Nothing would be left from Ben, except for his metal/silicone body. If Ben was faulty enough to know fear, he would run.

But now, all Ben did was quickly dry his tears with his wrists, his sleeves, his hands, anything he could, and walked away. He headed towards the door to Persona Company's building, every step sharp and calculated, like any other Synths. But his eyes were red, his fists were clenched and in Gwil's sweater and soft pants, he looked more like a human than anything. Gwil was almost rooted into the pavement beneath him, mind swirling with thousands of thoughts. His heart was racing in his chest, urging him to do something. To make a decision.

Ben was leaving. He was walking away, and it would only take him a few more minutes to be gone forever. But he was right in front of Gwil. He was right there, and all he needed to do was to run to him and stop him. Take him home. Gwil just needed to drop the lingering fear of the years to come, where he knew that being with Ben meant the end of him. He shivered, just thinking about it. How he would grow old and grey, and Ben would still look the same. Or maybe how Ben eventually got broken, like a machine being used after a long while, and left him for real. How they were destined to go through pain if they chose to be together.

Gwil swallowed the lump of fear, but it just didn't go away. His eyes never left Ben. The Synth walked over to the front door of the building. He was so close. He was getting in, and that would be the last time Gwil saw him. And then before he took the final step, he turned his head to look at Gwil for the last time. 

His wet green eyes pierced into Gwil's blue ones, a thousand different emotions storming inside them: sadness, pain, regret, helplessness, love. They were like two tiny oceans, calmed, but mirroring all of his own storms underneath.

"Wait!" Someone yelled, and only when Gwil bolted to Ben's spot did he know it was his own voice. "Ben, wait! No!"

The Synth stopped in his track. He turned around fully to look at him, eyes wide open.

"Be careful! Stop!" He yelled back a warning, and Gwil halted at the exact moment a bus crossed his path, only an inch away from running over him. The deafening noise of the engine stunned him for a second, and when he finally got back his senses, Ben was right beside him.

The Synth practically dragged him back to the pavement, not forgetting to check both sides of the street, and tried to shield Gwil away from the traffic as much as possible. He acted just like those cool bodyguards in those movies Gwil watched, and his heart melted at the safe feelings.

"What were you thinking?!" Ben had never shown so much emotions so freely. His eyes were frantic, brows knitted together in worry, and his voice raised. He checked on Gwil's body to make sure the man was okay, and grabbed his shoulders tightly. "That bus almost hit you!"

"Don't get in there." Gwil just said, voice low, simply. Ben stared at him, eyes wide with shock, and Gwil raised his hands to take Ben's in his. "Come back home with me."

"...What makes you change your mind?" He asked, and for the first time, he understood how people felt when they said they felt smaller, and smaller, like a defenseless baby against its biggest fear. Gwil's intense gaze always made him feel small, when he accused Ben of lying, and now.

"I was…afraid of so many things. Of how you could harm Reyna or Joe or me because of the faults in your system. Of how I would lose you so easily and quickly, because we are not the same." Gwil said, leaning his forehead against Ben's. From this distance, he could see the faintest flutter of his blond lashes, and his own reflection in Ben's green, watery eyes. "But at the end… I guess I'm just afraid of losing you right now even more."

"You're right, Gwil." Ben whispered. He closed his eyes, face twisted in pain. "I don't know how long I can be with you. Maybe in a few years, when my parts expires and degrade, it'll be the end of me and you'll be alone again. I can't stand it."

"Then I'll make sure it won't happen." Gwil kissed his forehead. "It's what's in here that I love. Nothing else matters. I'll bring you to maintenance every year if I have to."

Ben opened his eyes again, staring at him, and Gwil closed the distance between them for a kiss. It wasn't the first time they were this close, but it was the first time they really touched. Touched and felt the love radiating from the other, from the way their lips moved against each other, the way Gwil held Ben close by the hands on his hips, and the way Ben gently traced over Gwil's cheeks, his hair, his neck, his shoulders, like how a blind man see. No one else was on the street to see them, or even if they did, they would never imagine that was a man kissing a Synthetic. Gwil couldn't imagine it, either.

When they split, Ben looked up at him and gave him the most genuine and sunniest smile he had ever seen on him. And Gwil had to kiss him again, and again, and again. 

"I think I love you too. Come home with me?" He said between the kisses and Ben's giggles, and held the Synth impossibly tighter into his arms. All Ben did was just nodding over and over against his chest.

.

.

.

"This is silly." Gwil sighed, but Ben answered him with a heated kiss, hands caressing the back of his neck.

"I can't do anything or even let you do anything if you don't read the words." He nosed Gwil's neck. "I'm still a Synth, after all."

The man leaned down to devour his lips for another minute before tearing off the package and pulled out the piece of paper. "Angel. Taylor. Four."

And just like that, opened the portal to another world. A sinful, alluring, but oh, so sweet and pleasant world, where Ben kissed him back hard, hands roamed over his body and quickly took off his clothes. Gwil didn't hesitate, either. He also took no time in tearing his own clothes off of Ben, feeling the flesh slowly being revealed to him. When he finally took some time to look down, it was not at all like the nights he imagined. 

It was a hundred times better. 

Ben's face was flushed - something absolutely unbelievable for a Synthetic, but then, he was always full of miracles - wet lips parted, waiting for another kiss, green eyes glassy and clouded. Tiny whimpers came out of his mouth once in a while, sending shivers down Gwil's spine. They had just the right volume, the right tone, the right desperation, to make him harder than ever. They fell down onto the bed with Ben on top, and he quickly rose up, knees spread on both sides of Gwil's hips, perfect body glowed in all of its glory. Gwil's cock was incredibly hard after months of not being taken care of properly, and he thrusted his hips up a little, rubbing against the bare skin of Ben's inner thighs. Between the Synth's legs, his cock was also hard. The man looked up, caressing the length, and his heart throbbed at the slight crease of Ben's brows. The way he shut his eyes, mouth fell open, it was… Gwil thought he could come just from looking at him.

"You are out of this world." He grunted, pulling Ben down for another deep kiss, sliding his tongue along side Ben's, tasting him, savoring him. He wasn't like humans, he had no signature scent that could mark him off, but Gwil still found his pure, clean scent lovely. Like he was a completely blank paper, waiting to be soiled by Gwil.

"I want you to be the only one." The Synth whispered when Gwil fondled his arse cheeks in between his hands and sucked into the skin of his neck. The trembling following every touch if Gwil's hands made it even more impossible for him not to explode with lust in his veins. "I wanna be yours, Gwilym."

"You are mine," He started increasing the speed of his own hand, making more delicious hiccups and whimpers falling out of Ben's lips. "And I'm yours as well."

He would come embarrassingly early if he decided to even get close to being inside Ben right now, so all he did was holding the Synth's shoulders with one arm, pulling him closer, and quickly rubbed his damp cock into his palm, tracing and twisting and applying the right amount of pressure on the tip, making the Synth shook violently, getting louder and louder every second. Those shaky, breathy sobs were building the orgasm inside him increasingly fast, but right now he just wanted to make Ben come and admire the view. Take all of it in like a man on a dessert gulping all the water he found.

"Ah… Ah… _Ahh…_ "

Ben gasped, pushing his hips hard into Gwil's hands, his incoherent moans getting more and more high pitch and desperate as he got closer to the edge, and suddenly his back arched beautifully, like a golden, godly, gorgeous harp, and Gwil's hand was covered in wet come. 

The Synth almost fell over as the climax wrecked him, but he somehow still managed to use his arms to hold himself up against Gwil between trembling mewls. The man chose that moment to kiss his neck, his chest, his shoulders, anywhere he could reach, like he couldn't get enough of Ben. And he really couldn't.

"I--Please get in me." He looked down at Gwil with teary eyes - God, did he cry from pleasure? - and shakily groped around to find the lube. "I want you inside me. Don't you...Don't you want to?"

Honestly, Gwil didn't. He didn't want to embarrass himself by giving two thrusts before coming, but God, Ben asked so nicely.

The man pulled out the bottle of lube from under his pillow and poured it onto his fingers. "Jesus, love, of course I want to."

"No." The Synth swapped his hand away and took the bottle, squeezing it into his hand. "You don't have to prepare me, just…"

"Alright, love," Gwil threw the bottle aside, panting up at the sight of Adonis in front of him. "Do you want to ride me, or do you want me on top?"

"You on top, please." Ben mumbled shyly, and Gwil swiftly rolled them over, pulling the Synth's legs over his shoulders. 

"It's your first time, isn't it?" Gwil lined himself up against Ben, and the Synth blinked in confusion.

"I...I don't remember if I ever did this before I was stolen… But even then I couldn't think and feel. Not like this." He cupped Gwil's cheeks, and it reminded him of the time Ben trimmed the beard for him. His hold was just as soft and gentle. "I have enough all the database to know everything I need to do - but none of them matched the feelings of this. I just forgot everything when you started touching me."

The man buried his face into Ben's neck and pushed in, making him let out a loud gasp. And just like that, Gwil thrusted his hips into the Synth, his own moans entertwined with the shaky sounds from Ben and the lewd sounds of skin slapping on skin repeatedly, rapidly. All of Gwil's senses were reduced to only this bed, only this man in his arms, and the heat enveloping him, bringing him closer and closer to his climax. Ben let out a whimper everytime Gwil moved his hips into him, and they lost their minds for a moment.

And then Gwil came, painting the insides of him with white.

Gwil flopped down onto the bed next to Ben, pulling him close again. The Synth didn't hesitate as he snuggled into Gwil's embrace, leaning his cheek on the man's collarbone.

"I think my core processor just got burnt off." The Synth mumbled, and Gwil burst into laughter.

"I'm that good, yeah?"

"I used to wonder if being able to feel things was a curse or a blessing to me." Ben said, draping over him. "But I guess meeting you makes it a blessing."

"That's some very, very deep quote, Ben." The man laughed. He stroke the Synth's blond locks. "It's just the orgasm talking."

"I don't know why people don't do this everyday." Ben smiled. "It's so good. I--I thought I could explode."

"Hmm. You almost made me explode too." Gwil kissed him, and Ben turned up to kiss back. "But people don't do this everyday because it's only good with the one you love. It's not everyday we can find that person."

"I love you." Ben immediately stated, as if he was afraid that Gwil would forget. As if he was afraid that Gwil was mentioning someone else. 

"Yes, love. I know." The man just chuckled and kissed him again. "I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh, I've always been bad at writing smut, but I'm kinda confident in this one  
> What do you think?  
> Enough juicy content to make up for the hardship in the previous chapters?


	12. I want our family to be together forever

When Gwil woke up the next morning, he was warmer than usual. His spot on the bed was bathed in sunshine from the window, blankets wrapped around him and a body plastered over his like a giant teddy bear. He smiled and kissed the Synth's hair. Ben was holding him, using his chest as a pillow and eyes closed. He moved over to look at the Synth's hip to make sure that the cable he plugged in last night was still there and Ben was fully charged the whole night. After cleaning up and spent more than enough time cuddling in the shower together after the steamy sex last night, Ben was clearly low on battery as he kept dozing off adorably on Gwil's shoulders. And then when Gwil brought back a fresh sheet for the bed, he found the Synth already asleep, or, technically, ran out of battery. He just smiled at Ben and plugged in the charger for him before holding him to sleep. 

A rustle feeling at his feet suddenly caught his attention. Gwil moved it around and realized that somehow a pair of socks had been put on his feet overnight. No wonder he didn't wake up in the middle of the night blinding finding blankets and socks like usual. 

"Hey. You're up." Ben opened his eyes and greeted him with a lazy smile. He leaned up to ask for a kiss, and Gwil immediately gave it to him. It was still as sweet as their first.

"Did you put the socks on me last night when I was asleep?" The man whispered as he drew circles on Ben's skin, and the Synth nodded.

"And you plugged me in when my battery ran out." He licked Gwil's lips slowly. "Thank you."

"No problem." The man smiled. It's been such a long time since he felt so content. Ben wasn't as warm as human beings, his silicone skin was slightly cooler, but Gwil didn't have much experience with humans anyway. He loved the smooth and soft skin touching his as the muscular arm wrapped around his middle and Ben curled up into his chest.

"Is your hand still hurt much?" The Synth asked quietly, eyeing the bandages on Gwil's injured hand. He reached out to caress the man's wrist gently, and the touch warmed Gwil's heart.

"It's better than the other day. I'm sure it'll be fine." He shook his head slightly and kissed Ben to chase away the worries. It was probably the Synth's protective nature to care about his user's well being. Well, boyfriend, he guessed? They already said they loved each other, didn't they?

They had been through so many stages of emotions last night, and just thinking about it made him shiver. Thank God it resulted in him and Ben together, or else he would regret this for the rest of his life. Just looking at Ben staying calmed and happy next to him already made the future a little brighter. He hadn't had a romantic time since forever. Last night's sex was mind blowing, really, even when he had to struggle through it with his injured hand. Ben paid attention to every single thing, and Gwil didn't think he could find anyone more of a perfect fit for him. The Synth knew exactly what to do, how to sound to make him hornier than ever, and just the way he creased his eyebrows made Gwil weak in the knees.

"Was last night good?" Ben seemed to think about the same thing, when he looked up at Gwil and asked as they shared another kiss. He just couldn't get enough of Ben. 

"It was incredible." Gwil immediately answered. "Like I said, you're out of this world."

"I hope you're not mad when I say this." Ben pressed his lips together shyly as he looked away, cheeks slightly reddened. Gwil raised his eyebrows. "I analysed the sexual footages on the adult website in your browser history to come up with the behavior that I think that will make you the most satisfied. I'm sorry, it's just some thing we're set to do when the sexual mode is on."

It was Gwil's turn to blush. Jesus, Ben knew the porn he watched online and analysed them to know how to satisfy him? 

"Please don't be mad. I just don't want to keep anything from you again." Ben stared at him with wide, worried eyes, and he immediately brushed it away.

"No, no, I'm not mad." Gwil cleared his voice, stroking Ben's cheek. "It's just… Everything you did was calculated, then? To fit my interests?"

"Is it wrong?" The Synth gave him a confused look.

"Well, it wasn't wrong, I just--want to see the real you. You're not my slave or something, you can be yourself. You don't have to change everything to fit my likings." 

"It doesn't matter, Gwil." Ben leaned in and touched their foreheads. "Seeing you happy already makes me happy enough. That's what it's like being a Synth. I will change the world for you if I had to."

Gwil just sighed and held him closer. He wanted to just stay here like this, forever, talking about nonsense, melting in each other's arms and learn about the details on Ben's delicate features, seeing how much human he was. But then a loud crash came from the kitchen, along with a curse, and Gwil sighed as Ben got up.

"It's Joe." They said in unison, and quickly put their clothes on to go join the man in the kitchen. To be honest, they were too much inside their own heads to pay enough attention to Joe yesterday, and Gwil felt slightly guilty about it.

Gwil took Ben back to the car with a shocked Joe inside, and let the Synth explained everything to him. After that, Gwil told him that he decided to have a relationship with Ben, a real, romantic one, and left no room for Joe to voice his thoughts. They didn't give him enough time to process the situation. It was a miracle he still chose to stay to check out on them after being ignored the whole night.

When they got into the kitchen, the sight of a broken coffee machine welcomed them. Coffee and broken glass was all over the floor, half of the cups were gone, and Joe was fumbling with the mess.

"It exploded! I have no idea why! Must be the wires!" He exclaimed, and Ben stepped over.

"It's alright, Joe. Just sit down over there and wait for me for a minute. I will clean up and make you the coffee shortly."

Joe huffed in frustration and got up to join Gwil at the table. He was still eyeing Ben dealing with the mess he made.

"Hey." Gwil poked his arm, and Joe turned to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry for making a decision so fast without telling you. I was about to give him up like we planned, but--"

"I understand." Joe nodded. "It's creepy to me at first, but I guess I never spend nearly as much time as you did for him. You must have known him better. Maybe whatever the code they reprogrammed him with actually made him feel."

"So...you're not against him?" Gwil was surprised. After all the times he wanted Gwil to dump Ben out of the door, now he didn't even have any protest.

"Well the last time I went against him, you got mad and injured your hand." Joe sighed. "I must be obnoxious. I interfered with your life too much. I tried to make you do what I wanted. It's really mean, to be honest."

"What? No." Gwil shook his head. "I'm so glad to have you looking out for me. We've been doing that since forever. There's no way it's mean."

Joe nodded with a smile, and Gwil just had to reach out and gave him a hug.

"I promise, he's making me really happy." The man said, sighing. "He did everything to keep me that way. I can't find anyone else like him."

"Aww, you sentimental old man." Joe chuckled as they hugged, and Gwil pinched his side. 

"We're the same age."

"I mean the real, soul age." He shrugged, and then laughed again. They sat quietly for another minute, before Gwil asked.

"So it means that now you're willing to give him a chance to win you over?" He grinned, and the other man nodded.

"Sure. Blow me away, my bro's boyfriend. See if I can be impressed."

"Here's your coffee." Ben suddenly appeared next to him with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand and a smile, making Joe almost jumped out of his chair.

"It's only been like five minutes!" He blinked rapidly, and the Synth's smile got wider. He looked over to the mess he had just made, and gaped when he saw no trace left of coffee or glass. Just a plain, clean floor and a tidy kitchen counter. The only thing missing was the coffee machine. "How did you do all of that?"

"For you, my friend," The Synth put the cup of coffee down, the smile still stayed on as Joe tried it and was speechless from the wonderful flavor. "I'm willing to impress."

.

.

.

Reyna came home that night, with a bag full of the stuff she found in the woods as gifts for them. In all of his calls, Gwil never mentioned any kind of gifts, but the girl always thought of them when they thought she didn't. For a child, Reyna was more caring and full of love than any others. She happily came inside, putting her bags down to give all of them a giant hug, Joe, Gwil and Ben, before starting to give each of them a special gift. 

Gwil glanced at Ben as they sat down in the table to wait for Reyna. The Synth wasn't returning the gaze, he was paying all of his attention to Reyna, his face almost soften with a smile. He followed her movements with his eyes, wanting to know when was his turn to receive the gift. They had agreed that it was still too early into their relationship to let Reyna know. She was just a child, and having her seeing Ben as a parental figure might cause troubles. Gwil decided to keep it a secret, behind closed doors, and that means no kissing or holding hands or touching when Reyna was in the room.

"Here's for you, Uncle Joe." She put down something that looked like an egg, and they all looked at it with awe.

It was an egg, but its shell was actually broken into many pieces, and the shell was glued back together into an egg by glittered glue. It looked absolutely gorgeous.

"We found a bird nest on a tree. A larger bird broke the eggs when it pushed it off the tree, so I picked the shell pieces up and glued them back together." She gave Joe the egg with a smile. "You always helps me when I'm upset. You're like the glitter glue of my life."

Well now Gwil wanted to see his gift. It couldn't be less impressive than Joe's, or he's seriously going to have a talk with his daughter.

"Here's for you, Ben." She took out the acorn friendship bracelets she promised the other day, and the Synth held out his wrist so the girl could tie the ribbon around it. It was so adorable: purple and yellow strands binding together and a tiny dry acorn was strung through it. Reyna even made a small bow when she finished.

She had no idea that she almost lost Ben just yesterday. Gwil couldn't imagine how she would react if she so excitedly brought this gift home to him and then found him gone. It wouldn't just break her heart, it would also break his. Seeing Reyna so happy around Ben made him even more sure in his decision. If an innocent, unbiased child loved Ben, how could he be bad?

The Synth was hugging Reyna again, and from where Gwil was sitting, he could see his expression melting with love and affection. Ben loved Reyna so, so much.

"Okay, now here's your gift, Daddy." She held up the gift in her hands, and his eye widened. It was a piece of amber, with a small butterfly in it. Gwil didn't know how she could find something like this just randomly in a forest. It was slightly yellow-orange, but mostly transparent, and there was a small butterfly in there. Its wings weren't extremely big, but still large enough to see the beautiful patterns, and Gwil held it in his arms with care. "It's really pretty, and it's inside so it can't go anywhere. It'll be with you forever. I want you to be with me forever just like that."

Gwil scooped her up in a hug and kissed her hair. Reyna giggled and kissed his cheeks back. 

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, Reyna." He said, genuinely, and the girl smiled at him sunnily.

"I want our family to be with me forever too. You, Ben and Uncle Joe."

"Aw, of course we'll always be with you, sweetpea." Joe ruffled her hair, and they all moved in to have another group hug.

"I missed you three a lot when I'm in my trip." She said into Gwil's beard, and he eyed Ben, who was hooking his arms around both him and Reyna. He realized Ben was also staring at them, lovingly, longingly, and right there, he just wanted to kiss Ben. It would be perfect. Their family would be healed again, and this time, he truly believed that it would stay like that for the rest of his life.


	13. I want to see the real you

"Something's in your mind. You're not happy about me, aren't you?" Ben asked, looking up from his chest, green eyes big, confused and sad.

"That's--that's not true!" Gwil huffed as he kissed Ben again, palm opened on the Synth's bare back, spreading to feel as much of his flesh as possible. It was so difficult to express his mind when they were so close and Ben looked like a three course meal splaying over in front of him. 

They had sex again yesterday's afternoon, after Joe volunteered to go out with Reyna, giving the pins she made before the trip to the local Synthetics. The man just rolled his eyes at the two of them and took Reyna out, covering her eyes as Ben sent him a cheeky grin and Gwil blew him a kiss. Over the course of a few days, the tension in the Lee household was so much better, with Joe finally opening himself up to Ben, and Ben also opened up to everyone about his real self. He sometimes laughed at Gwil's jokes, spent time playing with Reyna and watched Game of Thrones with Joe. It was one of the fastest ways to build a friendship: watching a medieval show full of sex, nudity, violence and plots and schemes. They couldn't stop talking about it, really. It made Gwil smile every time he thought about it. Everything was going well among them. Just one thing that was stuck in his mind.

"What is it then?" Ben flipped over on his stomach to face him, a pout on his lips. He pulled Gwil back from his thoughts, to a much more urgent and serious problem. "The rate of enthusiasm in your reaction plummeted when we did it yesterday. Even though I did everything the same. Are you bored of me already? If you tell me, I can extract some more material to--"

"No, don't do that!" Gwil rubbed his forehead, groaning. God, it's hard. His head and heart told him one thing, and his dick told him the opposite, and he knew it wasn't fair on Ben, but the Synth was so dedicated in making him happy. "It's even worse!"

Ben became more confused every second. Gwil could almost feel the wires and cogwheels turning inside his head, trying to process his information.

"Alright, I'll say it." He cupped Ben's cheeks in his palms, carefully caressed them without touching his bandaged wounds, sighing. "I'm just--I don't think it's a good idea for you to mimic my porn watching history to please me in bed."

Ben furrowed his eyebrows, it was one of the most human thing he was starting to do over the days without realizing it. "...Why? That way I can understand your preference. It was perfect the first time I did it."

"Yes, it was, my mind was blown. But it doesn't have to always be perfect." Gwil shook his head. "Normal relationships never are."

Ben's gaze drifted down for a moment.

"But I love you. I want to make you happy." He mumbled, pouting like a petulant child, and Gwil laughed.

"I know, Ben. I also love you. And having sex is a major part of showing our affection to each other. That's why I want to see the real you, not the compilation of all the porns I've watched. I mean, if you think doing something feels great, you should do it. But not to only satisfy me."

"I'm not use to reacting on my own without any kind of reference." Right now, Ben didn't look at all like what he saw yesterday afternoon. Yesterday and their first night together, Ben was vocal, subtly confident, and had a perfect way with words. Now, he was just shy and confused.

"It's okay, it's not like you've done it a lot, Ben." Gwil touched their foreheads. "I want you to drop your wireless connection to my phone for a night, and we can start to do it while being ourselves, yeah? Just focus on feeling, not reacting, and do whatever you feel like."

"What if you don't like it?" Ben blinked. He squeezed Gwil's forearm gently. "What if what I do stopped attracting you sexually? I'm. I'm usually quiet, and your preference is…"

"Then I guess I'll have to be so good even someone so quiet like you can be loud, yeah?" He chuckled, and Ben's frown faded away a little. "I want to see the real you. Get it?"

The Synth nodded. He rose to give Gwil another kiss. 

"And kissing as well. I want you to wipe your sexual experience data clean and start over with me and your feelings."

"What?" Ben groaned. "Even kissing? It took 3000 pounds to program the kissing perfectly!"

"I'm not the one paying, I don't care. This is the human's way." Gwil rolled his eyes. He bit Ben's lip. "Wipe it out. I'll teach you. But I doubt you'll need it."

Ben just huffed and bit him back, making Gwil chuckle and slapped his arse playfully. 

"Just do it. Don’t be naughty."

"Are you entirely sure?" Ben asked for the last time, looking like he was about to whine. 

"Yes." Gwil had never been more certain.

Ben closed his eyes for a few seconds and Gwil waited patiently, smiling, before he finally reopened them. 

"So?" The man asked, putting a finger under Ben's chin to lift his face up slightly, staring into his wide eyes. Ben was too nervous to answer, all he did was grasping the blanket in his hands and looked at Gwil, unsure of the next experience.

Gwil decided to slowly lean in and brushed their lips together, letting his warmth cover Ben's, massaged his lips a little before getting deeper inside and guided Ben's tongue in a slow waltz with his. Ben was no longer as skillful and confident as he was with his kisses. Even in the first time they kissed on the pavement in front of Persona's building, he still knew what to do. He still knew how to fondle Gwil's mouth, caress him and control his own movement, like he had kissed so many people before. Now Ben was absolutely clueless.

He was clumsy, he flinched whenever Gwil took another step deeper into his warm mouth, and his hands clenched helplessly on the man's biceps as he laid their pliant under the man's touch. Ben didn't respond at first. It was true that he didn't think he could operate without the data in his core. He could cook, clean up, do the washing up, everything, because the information about the process was already encrypted in his mind. Now, when only kissing had already been strange for him, it was frightening. His system almost went into overdrive as Gwil's lips touched his.

But the man was gentle, and caring, and he took it slow. He didn't force Ben into responding, he just carefully guided him, and slowly, his feelings took over. The intimacy made him shiver, and emotions surged up inside him.

Ben loved this man. He really loved this man so, so, so much. Just thinking about him, being with him made Ben feel like he could burst into happiness. He wanted… He wanted to hold Gwil close and show him those emotions. To show him the same kindness, the same gentleness that Gwil showed him, to make sure Gwil understood how much he meant to Ben. So he let his feelings lead the way. He returned the kiss, even when he still had no idea how he should kiss. He just wanted to shower Gwil in the love inside of him, and he did. 

Ben kissed him back, slowly, and let their tongues danced together, fondle each other. Sometimes Ben still made some dumb mistakes and he heard Gwil chuckle, but after that, Gwil didn't stop wanting him. He continued to hold Ben's face, and kissed him again with all of the affection in the world.

When Gwil started panting from the lack of oxygen, Ben split them, even when he still wanted more. The man's lips were almost swollen, his face flush, and he had the most gorgeous smile on his face as they touched their foreheads and just laid there, taking in each other's view. The slight scratches from Gwil's beard sent bolts of pleasure down Ben's spine, something he was still so unfamiliar with, and he melted. 

"See, we kissed without your perfect kissing skills in your core and I still feel like you're the best kisser in the world." Gwil whispered, and Ben felt his face heating up. It was like his hardware was too overload by the feelings inside, and he pressed his face in the duvets to cool it down.

Gwil laughed. "Aww. You're so shy." 

He hugged Ben, and let out a relieved, content sigh. 

And that was when his dumb phone decided to ring. Argh, he hated the sound when it interrupted moments like these. Gwil almost ignored it, but Ben, the responsible Synth as always, got up to fetch the phone to him, and he looked at the screen. Well, it was his boss. Thank God he didn't ignore it.

"Yes, Mr. Colewell?" He greeted, and the man from the other side of the line replied with his cold, sharp voice like usual.

"Emergency meeting with the chemical department about our project in an hour. Get dress and start moving."

The call ended even before Gwil had the chance to groan. He already sent in a sick leave! His hand was currently useless, what could he do in the meeting? And the whole chemical department meant it was Joe, too. And a bunch of other researchers and scientists working in the same project he was. To be honest, Gwil was never fond of a crowd.

"Ben, I have an emergency meeting in an hour. I gotta leave." He stroke Ben's hair and kissed him chastely before starting to get up.

The Synth immediately got up, in all of his naked glory, and walked over to the wardrobe. He got back into his housekeeper mode immediately as his hands shuffled through the clothes inside. "I'll find you the proper clothes in a few minutes."

"Thanks, love." Gwil followed him out of bed and started to brush his teeth.

It was Sunday and they allowed themselves to stay in a little. Reyna and Joe were probably still sleeping in bed, so this meeting meant he needed to wake Joe and let the girl stay home with Ben until the afternoon. God, what was so urgent that Colewell needed to have a meeting with the whole department? Their work was catching up well with the rest of the industry. Gwil was always known to be a workaholic and perfectionist. No one had ever complained about his work, or his department before. Even when he took three months off to heal back his hand, a lot of the work was still done in his laptop. When he came back, he just needed to push up some experiments and then the project would still be on time.

Gwil stepped out of the bathroom to see a suit already ironed and carefully picked out on his bed. He smiled as he put on the thing - no one's saying he's an old, divorced, boring scientist after seeing him dressed like this. It was one of the suits his parents sent him as a birthday gift, but he never had the time to actually try them on. The man quickly slung on his tie and got to his desk to gather the laptop and papers inside. 

"Breakfast is ready. Joe is up and getting ready to go with you." Ben poked his head in, and Gwil knew he shouldn't be surprised anymore, but he couldn't help himself.

"You finished breakfast already?" He got over to where Ben was standing, and the Synth smiled.

"I can't let you go to work hungry." Ben reached up to knot Gwil's tie in an impeccable knot under his neck and pressed his hands on the man's suit's shoulders. "Or looking like a homeless person. Reyna's still asleep. I'll take care of her when she gets up."

"God, you're the best. Make the bed for me please? I promise I'll do it tomorrow." Gwil kissed him, smiling like an idiot and ran for the breakfast.


	14. You're the best

"Gwil, Joe, welcome back." Ben smiled from the dinner table as Reyna was helping him setting out the plates. "You must be tired. Go have a shower and come out for dinner with us."

Joe rolled his eyes as Gwil gave Ben a dreamy look, before getting to his room to change. He knew all Gwil wanted then was to run to his lovely "housewife" to kiss him like in those cheesy black and white 70s movies, but Reyna was standing right there and they had agreed not to let her know about their relationship. Joe just pretended to gag, making Gwil punch him playfully and Ben smiled widely, and then went to take off the annoying suit. They had been through a hell of a day, and coming home seeing a delicious dinner already waiting for them was like coming back to heaven. Joe had never hidden the fact that he was a food lover, and Ben surely made some effort to impress him.

When both of them came out, Ben had sat down on his own chair and was waiting for them. Gwil picked the chair right next to him so they could hold each other's hand under the table, like weird teenagers. Joe looked at his plate and his stomach rumbled as he saw the smashed potatoes and roasted ribs.

"Oh, this is brilliant." Gwil groaned as he took a bite from each of them, and shot Ben a starry gaze. The Synth was helping with his injured hand by cutting the meat and feeding it to him while staring lovingly into his eyes, and the cheesiness might have formed a clot in Joe's arteries. God, teenagers in love. "You're the best."

"Thank you, Gwil." The Synth didn't eat, of course, but he still had a place on the table and watched them as they ate and compliment the hell out of his food. In recent days, he had to be there to aid Gwil too. Well, more like being his lovebird.

"I love the asparagus, Ben!" Reyna exclaimed, and until now, Joe's eyes stopped bugging out of his head when he heard that from the little girl. Ben thanked her again with sparkly eyes.

"I can't believe there is someone in this world that can make Reyna eat her vegetables, Ben." Gwil shook his head and chuckled. 

"I'm not one of the recent chef models of Synths, but I'm equipped with the basic cooking skills for survival to look after my users." Ben nodded, as if his food wasn't more fantastic than all of the instant ramen and horrible smoothie that Joe and Gwil made for themselves in decades.

"Why are you home so late, Daddy?" Reyna asked, and Gwil took a break from his food to have a drink of the lemonade Ben made specially for him. No alcohol was allowed in this time.

"Oh, it's just work. My boss is being really annoying with all of his demands."

"May I ask for some information about your job?" Ben suddenly asked, he looked hesitant. "I only know that you're a scientist. I really want to know more about you two. Of course those information will not be shared with any third part--"

"Sure. Of course I can tell you." Gwil cut the statement off. He trusted Ben completely, which was something Joe haven't seen him doing to anyone for a while. And, well, Ben was a Synth. Synths were always loyal to their users. "So I'm working for a company called Colewell Industries, in the Chemical Department. Joe and I work together to research new substances for the machines in our factories. Oil and diesels, things like that. Solvent to preserve the goods, or sometimes even explosives to use in metal mines."

"That's why the wounds on your hand are so deep." Ben said softly, more to himself than to others, and oh here comes Gwil's starry eyes. His best friend was a sucker for being cared about. But then, who wasn't?

"So in the morning, a Sunday morning, good God," Joe mumbled. "He summoned us to complain about Gwil's sick leave slowing down our research. I mean, it's not like anyone but us in that entire Industry could handle the thing, so why can't he appreciate us a little?"

"He's already appreciated us enough, Joe. Just because you don't stay in your flat doesn't mean you're too poor to have one." Gwil mocked him, and Joe glared back. Argh, those dumb "in a relationship" people. He loathed them.

"Hey, I'm here to look after you, show some gratitude."

"What's so complicated that only you two can handle?" Ben tilted his head, and Gwil shrugged.

"They're asking us to develop some conductive liquid substance for a new electronic component. It'll be a big part of our new line of products."

"That sounds like very important work." Ben commented while cutting another small piece of meat to put into Gwil's waiting mouth. Cocky bastard.

"Of course Daddy's work is important. He's saving the world!" Reyna cut in, and all of them just laughed.

"But I guess I'll have to postpone it until I can get better. Joe's still going to work, but I can't even hold a fork right, so…" Gwil eyed the fork on Ben's hand, who was nudging his lip with another bite. They went quiet for a bit before Ben said.

"I can help you." Ben bit his lip.

"What do you mean?" He furrowed his eyebrows, and Ben blinked.

"I can help you with your experiments. I have basic knowledge about chemistry, but you can just tell me what to do. Reyna's at school most of the day, so it'll be a waste to leave me at home doing nothing."

Gwil took some time to process the offer, before leaning in to whisper something into Ben's ear, and the Synth pushed him away, cheeks reddened.

"Not like that!"

"What's that? What's that? What did Daddy say?" Reyna curiously pestered them into talking, and Ben just shook his head, denying everything. If there was one thing Joe was sure of, Gwil must have said something dirty about naughty lab assistants. Like, he knew Gwil.

"Fine, you can come with," Joe groaned as Gwil started laughing and Ben tried to make up some weird excuses to Reyna. "Just don't do anything--I'm right there. Like, in the same room. Do not do anything."

.  
.  
.

When they arrived at the lab the next morning, Gwil and Ben were giving each other heart eyes when suddenly a shadow of a man standing inside in the dark startled all of them. The Synth immediately jumped in front of Gwil and Joe, ready to strike to defend them, when Joe turned on the light and they both sighed in relief.

"Good morning, Dr. Lee and Mazzello." Colewell glared at them from the room, narrowing his eyes at Ben. He was wearing a suit like usual, dark hair thinning on his head and cold blue eyes staring at them. "Must I mention that not bringing in strangers is a major part of the security measures to protect the secrecy of our company's project?"

"Oh, this is--" Gwil cleared his throat and pulled Ben's hand down, stopping him from knocking his boss over. "This is my Synthetic. He's here to assist me while I'm recovering."

"A Synthetic can be a gap in our security system." Colewell stepped over, eyes still cold and cautious. "If any of the information on our project get out--"

"It won't." Gwil cut him off, didn't seem to cower under the gaze. Joe's words did get to him last night. He and Joe were the only scientists they had to finish this project, so they were more advantaged. "He's not like normal Synths, I can assure you, Mr Colewell."

"Right." The man still looked skeptical, but Gwil just ignored it and started to work. You wanted me to continue working, this is me trying to. If you have any more to say about Ben, then I guess you'll just have to wait for another two and a half months. "I guess I'll just stay here to observe for a few moments to make sure my best scientists are doing their best."

Ben quietly followed Gwil into the lab, and Joe got into his spot as well. Colewell had never paid them any unexpected visit like this before, but Gwil knew the man wouldn't dare to fire them. Not when they were holding his precious project in their hands.

Gwil started to get into his lab coat and goggles with Ben's help, and Ben put one on himself. And then the man started to ask Ben to do the work for him, while standing by watching and instructing him what to do. The Synth focused on the tasks in front of him and did everything Gwil asked carefully and perfectly, like he did everything else, and scribbled down the results as Gwil read for him. He looked absolutely divine in the same white coat Gwil was wearing, biting his lip in concentration. It made Gwil wanted to do the whole naughty assistant thing so freaking bad. Sometimes, while the Synth was busy with measuring and observing, the man spared a glance at his boss, who was still standing in the corner looking at them, gaze boring into their skulls, wondering why he was still here, making it awkward for them. Such an annoyance.

Clearly, after what he complained about yesterday, Gwil came up with a solution. He came to work, and continued. Ben was even faster than him in this, the Synth obviously had lab skills encrypted in his core and just waiting for Gwil to tell him what to do. Joe was doing fine as well, and everything seemed right. So why was he still here? Why wasn't he somewhere else, where they needed their CEO for a million nameless jobs?

"Do you know exactly what line of products would use this liquid?" Ben suddenly asked, gesturing at the sample he was mixing with his hands. It wasn't reacting as good as Gwil was aiming to, but it was close to his goal. Just a few more changes.

"Not really." Gwil furrowed his eyebrows. "I've seen the blueprints, but machines are not my strong suit. It just looks like a giant oven for me."

"Do you know what it does?" Ben looked up at him.

"Communicating, transfering signals, something like that." Gwil stepped closer so Colewell didn't see them talking. "Why do you ask?"

"Because the formula is looking really similar to my solvent. You know, the blue one that helps with the power and signals inside my body." Ben shook the test tube a little. "It's probably nothing."

"I'm not sure." Gwil shrugged. "I don't know anything about Synths tech, so…"

"It's alright. I'm just wondering." The Synth shook his head and went back to the experiment. Gwil was always a loner, especially in his work. He was the man with a giant ego. No one could really match his expectations, until Ben came and made him just wanted to worship this robot forever. The way Ben's thick but delicate fingers moved around was fast and precise and had no hesitation. No humans worked like that, and Gwil couldn't ask for anything more. He just stood by, watching Ben handling everything with ease, wondering why people don't let Synths doing their lab work more often. Joe sometimes threw at him some whistles about him being a heart-eyed dork, but seriously, who doesn't love someone who works miracles in the lab? Certainly not Gwil.

Weirdly enough, after a while, their boss finally announced to leave. Even Joe shot him a suspicious look, but couldn't make out anything from it. Oh well, at least they had decent money working here. Who cares if the boss was a little creepy?

"Sorry, I can understand most of Chemistry, but Physics is a no for me." Gwil chuckled lightly as Colewell was no longer lurking behind their backs. "It's not like I'm my Dad or anything."

"You never told me about your parents." Ben said, smiling at him. "Who did the wonderful job of raising Doctor Gwilym Lee?"

"Oh, you'll see them soon enough, love." Gwil smirked. "My Dad texted me the other day, saying they're coming over this Thursday. He's a doctor in Astrophysics."

Ben's eyes widen. "No wonder you're so smart."

"Oh, I'm not nearly as smart as him though." Gwil ducked his head. "Or my other Dad, to be honest. He majors in Biology."

Ben let out a small laugh. "You have two Dads who are both geniuses?"

"Well, my Mum passed away when I was really young, so I barely knew her. My second Dad, who was my Dad's best friend at the time, stepped up to help him with raising me, and the two fell in love after that." Gwil said, his left hand tracing the table. "I grew up with two Dads. They're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"I'm sorry about your mother." Ben reached out his gloved hand to squeeze Gwil's in his. "But it's great to know that you still had a wonderful childhood."

"I can't wait to let them see you, love." The man looked at Ben, smiling lightly. "I mean… I won't tell them about us, not yet, they're old and I'm not sure if they understand, but still. I want you to meet them."

"I guess I'll have to impress them as well." The Synth chuckled, and they leaned in for a kiss. Until their goggles clashed, and they split away giggling, blushing like a couple of teenagers. 

Joe just shook his head and sighed. They were the cheesiest, weirdest, and clumsiest couple, especially at that age. They always looked at each other with the dreamiest look, like they were imagining a house and kids whenever they saw each other. Joe was so annoyed. "Jesus, no kissing in the lab! It's like the basic rule! Do yu want to die or not?" He rolled his eyes at them, trying not to laugh. And in that moment, he would do anything to have someone look at him the same way they looked at each other.


	15. We'll talk about this later

Gwil had never seen a Synthetic being nervous before, but now he was sure that Ben definitely was. Right when Ben knew Gwil's parents were coming over, he couldn't stop worrying about everything, even though he kept denying it. Gwil guessed he wasn't even aware that his current feelings had a name. It was adorable.

"God, if I see him cleaning the table top again with that cloth, I swear it's going to have a hole in it." Joe mumbled as Ben plastered himself on the dining table, cleaning up the surface with a bottle of glass cleaner and a washcloth meticulously for the fourth time in twenty minutes. Even Reyna asked Ben why he looked so worried, the Synth just shook his head and denied everything. The girl got bored with him cleaning up the house several times over, so she got back to her room to mess with her crayons and colored pencils.

"Hey, he's going to meet them for the first time. Let him be worried for once." Gwil chuckled as he eyed the cake rising in the oven. Ben even asked for his Dad's favorite type of dessert and was determined to make the bestest red velvet cake anyone had ever tasted in their lives.

"Wait until he actually sees them." Joe rolled his eyes. "He's gonna have a short circuit. Don't you think you should tell him first?"

"That my parents aren't just geniuses but also rock stars?" Gwil glanced at him. "It would make him even more fidgety. And I don't want him to consider them anything more than my parents. That's already too much."

"Alright, your choice." Joe shrugged and turned back to his laptop, working his project. "I love the cake, anyway. Smells great."

"Yeah, I think I gained more pounds in a few months than I've been for like, five years." Gwil looked down at his stomach, which looked so much less like a hollow bone structure comparing to the past.

"Of course you should gain more weight." Ben said without turning away from cutting vegetables for dinner. "If your parents come here and see you looking like a skeleton, they would throw me into the street for not being able to look after you."

Joe laughed, and Gwil just stood up to come to the kitchen counter and embraced the Synth from behind. 

"You know that's not true, right?" He leaned his chin on Ben's shoulder.

"God knows." The Synth shrugged. "When people bring a Synth home, they expect to be taken care of, to be relaxed and happy. Lots of Synths were thrown out for not fulfilling their basic functions."

"Oh, stop being ridiculous." Gwil kissed his ear. "There's no way my parents are going to do that. You've done a wonderful job of looking after Reyna and me, and no one's throwing you out. You know I love you."

"I don't want your parents to hate me." Ben mumbled as he grazed the potatoes. 

"And I'm 100% sure that they won't." Gwil rubbed his hands on Ben's hips slowly, easing him with the gesture. He loved being close with Ben like this, feeling the softness of his skin, the cool feelings from his body, and the way his sides curved in to form the tiny waist. Ben was so gorgeous, and Gwil could never have enough of him.

"I love you. And I love it that you look more like a human and less like a stick since I moved in." Ben kissed his forehead, and Gwil chuckled.

"I'm a busy single dad, Ben." He bit the Synth's ear. "I don't have time to eat."

Ben just leaned back on him for a bit and continued with his five star restaurant dish. Gwil held him tighter in his arms, standing firmly so Ben could rely in him entirely. The Synth had already done so much for him, it was like he was the damsel in distress and Ben was the knight in shining armor. He had to love Ben more than he already did. The Synth was willing to impress Gwil's parents as much as possible, and he really was making the most out of the endless Internet data in his head. 

"Just try to make it more like home." Gwil kissed his jaw. "My dads have had enough of those fancy giant plates with one single cube of meat in the middle and nothing else. I'm sure they would want to have their bellies full."

"Of course." The Synth nodded eagerly, like it was a precious piece of information for the next exam. Gwil just laughed.

Alright, maybe he should ease the tension by turning on some music. Well, some Queen music, since what's going to happen would have a lot to do with Queen. Gwil walked to his vinyl shelf to pull out an album, and carefully put the vinyl onto the player. Soon, the sound of A millionaire's waltz filled the house with its sweet and funky melody. Gwil knew if he tried to help, Ben would still be stressed and he would find some more things to do, so he decided to just swaying around the kitchen in the music, ignoring Joe's snickers from the table. 

_ Bring out the charge of the love brigade _

_ There is spring in the air once again _

_ Drink to the sound of the song parade _

_ There is music and love everywhere _

Gwil knew his voice wasn't the best, unlike his Dad's, but he still sang the lyrics while he goofed around, trying to ease Ben from the tension. Sometimes, he caught the Synth glancing at him with a tiny but thoroughly captivated smile, and his heart fluttered.

_ Give a little love to me  _

_ Take a little love from me _

_ I wanna share it with you _

And Ben let out a small, cute laugh when Gwil jumped around pretending to hold his guitar. The tension on the Synth's features was fading, and he looked more like himself.

And then suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"I'll go get it. Probably just Erik from next door." He waved at Ben and walked to answer the door. His parents' flight would land in an hour, so there was no way they could be here yet. 

Gwil opened the door, and bam, there was no Erik. 

"Gwil!" His father Brian exclaimed as he pulled Gwil into a crushing hug, and his other father, Roger, joined them. Gwil laughed and returned the hugs. God, it's been a while.

"You said you wouldn't land until 7:30!" He looked at Brian when the split, laughing. The man was almost seventy, but he looked more alive than Gwil had ever seen him. Silver curly hair around his head, sparkling hazel eyes and a bright smile. 

"Well, we have a surprise." Roger replied with a grin, and Gwil looked at him, couldn't help from grinning. Roger wasn't his biological father, no, but meant the world to him. He looked healthy as well, hair and beard all white, but skin still pink and blue eyes still shining. Gwil had always been told that he looked like a time-travel Brian May, but with the baby blue eyes of Roger Taylor, and he had never been so proud.

"Come in, let's get dinner first. You must be tired." He took the bags from the old couple's hands and brought it inside. "Reyna! Grandpas are here!"

"Jesus, Gwil, what's wrong with your hand?" Roger immediately spotted his injured hand and examined it. Always the biologist.

Brian also got worried too. "God, Gwil, did you burn yourself or something?"

"Oh, it's fine, Dad, just an accident in the lab. It's mostly healed up by now." Gwil waved his hand dismissively, and attempted to lift the bags again. Of course, they didn't let him.

"Okay, that's not gonna happen." Roger pushed his hands from the bags, and Gwil was about to argue when Ben suddenly appeared at the door.

"Gwil, there's--" He froze, staring at the two other men. Brian and Roger stared back at him.

"Gwil, who is this?" Brian blinked rapidly as he turned to his son, and the man quickly answered.

"That's my Synthetic. Alexa bought him for me to help taking care of Reyna, and--"

"Synthetic?" Roger's eyes went wide, he raised his voice, and Ben took a step back. "Alexa?!"

"Dad, don't lash out, she doesn't mean any harm, seriously," Gwil raised his hands defensively. "She just wants to help. Ben's been amazing."

"Ben?" Brian raised his eyebrow, and Gwil took some steps to stand beside the blond haired Synth, holding his waist. 

"Dads, I'm sorry about not telling you about him sooner. I just don't want you to make a fuss." He squeezed Ben's hip gently to reassure him. "Here's Ben. He's a Synthetic, who's made to protect us and help us with our lives. He's been great, and I can't find anything better than him. Please don't be judgemental, okay? He's cool."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Nothing comes from that woman is cool. Especially a Synth. She probably already fucked this one and--"

"Dad, you're being unfair to her. She wants to help." Gwil explained. "And please don't talk about Ben like that, he's new when he came here. Alexa didn't do anything to him."

Roger looked like he could scream--but then Reyna bolted from inside into his legs, and the anger disappeared in a second.

"Grandpa!" She yelled and giggled as he scooped her up in his arms and kissed her cheeks.

"Well hello there, little lady. How's everything going?" Brian chuckled as he got closer to say hi to his favorite (and only) niece, and she kissed his cheeks as well, while playing with his fluffy hair. 

"Everything's amazing, Grandpa." She waved her hands excitedly. "I've just got back from a school trip, and I got some new friends! And oh, Mommy brought Ben here to look after me and Daddy! I love him so much!"

"Oh?" Roger eyed the Synth, and Reyna nodded her head.

"He helps us clean the house, wash the clothes, and he cooks really nice food." She said, and he belly rumbled right after that. "I'm so hungry, Ben!"

She turned to look at the Synth, and he gave her a small smile. "Dinner is ready, Reyna. You all can come in and enjoy it now."

Brian and Roger were still looking at Ben skeptically as he picked up their bags and brought it inside, but they decided not to do anything in front of the little girl. Gwil sighed. Thank God she was there. He honestly thought Ben was silly for being afraid of being thrown out, but for a second there, he thought Roger would throw him out for real. He sometimes forgot how hot headed his father could be.

"We'll talk about this later." Roger glared at his son and whispered under his breath.

When he got into the kitchen, all of them, including Joe, had been waiting for him at the dining table. Ben had set out the napkins and white wine, and Joe was chatting happily with Brian while Roger was busy with Reyna. Even though they acted like it was nothing, Gwil knew they still had so many questions and unease about Ben that just couldn't wait to get out. He decided to just sit down on his chair.

"So, he cooks, right?" Roger looked at Gwil once he's seated, and the man nodded. "Yeah, everything's ready. He's coming out in a minute."

After a few minutes, Ben finally emerged from the bedrooms. He must have put the bags in there before coming out. The Synth looked emotionless and robotic as he walked over to the counter to bring their plates to the table. Gwil knew he asked Ben to act like other Synths to make sure his fathers didn't find out, but there was more in his eyes. They were masked with cold, soulless facade, but the long time spending next to Ben made Gwil notice something different. And deep down, he knew what it was.

"Bon appetit, Mr. Taylor, Dr. May." He said before getting back to his spot behind the counter. Gwil waited to have him sitting by his side, helping him with the food like always, but Ben didn't come. He knew Roger and Brian's reaction was the thing Ben had always been afraid of, and he wanted to have the Synth next to him so bad so he could hold his hand as a sign of reassurance. Instead, he realized that his food was already cut up into small pieces and he would only need his left hand to eat everything.

"Isn't Ben sitting here with us?" Reyna asked innocently, and Ben shook his head.

"It is not necessary, Reyna. Enjoy your meal."

God, this was going to be difficult for all of them.


	16. I'm sorry

Gwil turned over in his bed and spreaded his arm out to look for the familiar figure. And then he realized that the other side of the bed was empty. The man cracked open his eyes to look around, and saw nothing apart from the wall on the other side of the room. He slowly pushed away the sleepiness in his head and got up. Ben still hadn't come yet? God, Gwil had been waiting for Ben to get to sleep for hours and now it's almost 2 am and he still hadn't shown up. He knew Ben was shocked with the way it happened this afternoon, but he was waiting for the Synth to come in to explain about it. He didn't think Ben would just disappear.

With a sigh, Gwil threw back the covers and got out of bed. Maybe Ben was busy preparing breakfast? Maybe his battery went out before he knew it and he collapsed in the living room. The thoughts urged him to walk faster to find Ben as quickly, but quietly, as possible. His parents were sleeping in the room next to his and he wouldn't want to wake Roger. The man was obviously in a bad mood that evening when Gwil mentioned his least favorite ex-daughter in law, and Gwil understood why. He knew he made a huge mistake mentioning her name. God, he was such an idiot.

"Ben?" Gwil called out quietly as he turned on the light from his phone to look around. "Ben? Are you there?"

"Yes, I am here." Ben said, and Gwil turned around to see him sitting in the corner with a cable plugged into his hip. The Synth's green eyes almost glowed in the dark. "Is there anything you need my assistance with, Gwil?"

The man rolled his eyes and got to the spot. It was the same spot he used to sit to charge when he first came into the house, and worse, he was wearing his original outfit when he first moved in. The blue jumpsuit with a long stitch on one arm. Gwil's clothes, the one Ben wore in the evening, was carefully folded and put on the counter.

"Ben, come on, you're ignoring me the whole evening. Now you're sitting out here too?" Gwil rubbed his forehead when he saw Ben bundled up in his old corner where he used to sit to charge through the night. It seemed like ages ago when he wasn't in the same bed as Gwil, and the last thing he wanted was to go back to that time.

"I don't know, I'm a Synth, this is close to the electric socket, so what's the problem?" Ben's voice was light, but it was so snappy Gwil couldn't believe that the Synth could somehow sound like that. He had always been soft and sweet.

"Love, come on, you know I don't want my parents to know this right away." Gwil knelt down in front of him, stroking his cheek. "You saw how Roger reacted when he found out you're a Synth, I don't know what he'd do if--"

"If he knew I'm fucking you?" Ben growled, and Gwil was shocked. Like, he didn't think the Synth had the ability to swear. 

"Ben, love, you know it's not exactly something people do…"

"You seriously think I don't know that?" Ben closed his eyes, scoffing. "I know that I'm not like others, and being with me isn't healthy for you, and you don't want people to think you're insane. I don't blame you for that. But could you at least tell them about having a Synthetic before they came in here and saw me?"

Gwil stuttered. "I'm sorry, I just didn't think it's a big deal and--" 

"It's clearly a big deal if you told them the Synth comes from your ex wife, who cheated on you with a Synth!" Ben's face scrunched up in the verge of tears as he clawed into his own thighs. "You could've warned them first, or simply leave the information out, but you had to push me out like that. And you didn't even bother to tell me they are Brian May and Roger Taylor! They're Queen!"

Gwil sighed, covering the Synth's wrists in his hands, not knowing what to say. He had never seen so much emotions bursting from Ben uncontrollably like that, and he knew it was great that now Ben has become more human, but it hurt the way it happened. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his feelings even before he knew what they were called.

"I looked up on the Internet, and I suppose these feelings I'm having is called upset, disappointment, and pain." Ben said, and gently but firmly pushed Gwil's hands away. "Maybe what we're doing is wrong. That's the only explanation for this. True love… They said true love makes people happy forever, not for just a moment and then turn into anger like this. I don't know, Gwil. Maybe I'm not meant to love you."

"What? No, come on, love. Ben. Please." Gwil's eyes went wide open. "It doesn't work like that. Sometimes it hurts and it's alright. We can fix this."

"Why would people love when it makes them feel so horrible, Gwil?" Ben's voice wavered. 

"Ben--you--you were born to love me. You said it's encrypted in your core." Gwil reached up to brush a strand of hair off of Ben's forehead. "Please just calm down and think this through, yeah? I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was a dick and a coward, I just--"

"Imagine when Roger finds out I'm a stolen and illegally reprogrammed Synthetic." Ben stared at him, eyes empty. "We're bound to break, Gwil. You are very smart. I think you should know that by now."

Gwil tried to hold his cheeks in his hands, talking him out of it, but he held a hand up to stop Gwil. For a Synthetic with no emotions, he had too much to bear.

"Please. We should take a hold of this for a while. I just want to go back to being your Synth, that's all. No more emotions, no more pain. Just come back to your bedroom and let me charge, or your parents could see us."

Gwil tried again, but Ben's hand was firm. He had so much more strength than Gwil, and the man could only ask him to do things when he wanted to. Finally, he decided to let go and stood up, eyeing the Synth, thoughts and bitterness jumbled inside his head, making the room spin. 

He went back wordlessly, the sight of Ben turning himself into low battery mode alone in the corner instead of on the bed next to him couldn't get off his mind.

.  
.  
.

Brian loved his son more than anything in the world, he was rather sure about that statement. He had to raise the boy alone after Anita passed away for years, and he knew Gwil more than anyone. Sure, Roger had helped, but in the early stages of their relationship, he could only interact with Gwil for some times a day. Only when the boy was eleven did Roger finally moved in with Brian, willing to form a serious commitment, and before that, Brian had to be both parents at the same time.

That's why he was firm enough to put Gwil into discipline, to study, to exercise and eat healthily, and became the successful man he was today, and also soft and understanding enough to see right through him. And he knew that the words Roger said about the man's Synthetic broke his heart. Brian didn't know why, but there was something going on between his son and Ben the Synthetic that was affecting the atmosphere of the entire household, and the last thing he wanted was to see his son in pain. Roger was still angry, he always was, so he decided to ignore it. Brian, on the other hand, didn't care much about Alexa.

Whatever she did, she hurt Gwil. She betrayed his son, left him heart broken and completely alone like how Brian was with Gwil back then. But Anita didn't have a choice with cancer, while Alexa chose to turn on him. Ben coming from her was suspicious - but Brian saw how much that positively changed his son and grand-daughter's lives. Reyna and Gwil loved him. The little girl was cared for more thoroughly, she seemed unbelievably kinder, sweeter and more loving than usual with Ben around teaching her and listening to her thoughts. Gwil was busy with his work, so having the Synth around relieved him and gave him more time for himself, besides Reyna. He would have to struggle with his injured hand if it wasn't for Ben's asisstance. The existence of Ben lifted up the mood of everyone, including Joe, who kept laughing and chatting with the Synth about Game of Thrones. Everyone became less stressed, and happier than the last time Brian visited. But obviously what Roger said affected them somehow, because Gwil kept looking at Ben and sighing.

Ben was acting like other Synths: precise, strong, diligent, selfless, everything people could ask for in their personal robot helper. But clearly they all considered him something more. Reyna asked him again and again why he hadn't been smiling to her said it all. Brian wasn't familiar with technology, but he noticed something was wrong. 

"Hey, Roger." He asked quietly as he and Roger came to bed and the other man snuggled against him like when they were young.

"Yeah?" The other man asked, blue eyes questioning. They looked the same as when he and Roger first met.

"Do you think Gwil, Reyna and Joe acted differently about Ben?"

"Well, yeah." Roger rolled his eyes. "I knew that robot was trouble. He should never have gotten anything from that bitch."

"Okay, okay, that's not what I'm talking about." Brian shook his head. "I don't want to mention Alexa. I just think that those three love the Synth very much, I can see that they are actually happier than before. But there's some kind of tension between them."

"Yeah, we had a talk the other day." Roger mumbled. "He seemed unhappy whenever he looked at the Synth, but when I told him to get rid of it, he said no every time. He kept defending that Synth, saying how much Reyna needs it, how helpful it was, somethings like that. I mean, I want to throw it out immediately, but Gwil's a grown man and I can't force him to do that."

"Don't you think you're a little unfair to Ben, Roger?" Brian said, quietly, and Roger looked at him.

"Are you saying the reason this house looks like a sad haunted house all the time is because of me? I didn't say anything wrong!"

"I don't say that it's wrong. But I don't think you're doing the best for Gwil right now. He seemed happiest when he came to greet us at the door, and when you started lashing out at his Synthetic, everything spiraled." Brian stroke his hair. "You're too harsh on him."

"Sometimes being harsh on him is the best for him, Brian. It doesn't feel good to drop smoking and you still made me do it, didn't you?"

"I didn't make you do it." Brian raised his eyebrow. "I told you how worried I was and how it annoyed me as well as destroying both of our healths. And then I gave you the chance to decide for yourself if you wanted to quit. And when you did, I helped you."

Roger scoffed, but didn't reply. 

"Please, he's been through enough with his injuries and everything else. We shouldn't be making things hard for him. He needs our support, not our anger." Brian kissed his husband's hair gently. "I know you're worried he's being used and will get heartbroken again, but I'm sure he's old enough to handle it. He just needs us to believe in him."

"I know." Roger mumbled. "I just hated that Alexa hurt him. I don't want him to look at the Synth and think of her. I was the one introducing her to him in the first place after all."

"We've been talking to him all the time and I haven't seen him mentioning Alexa for once, apart from the first time he introduced Ben to us. What makes him upset when he looks at Ben, it has nothing to do with that woman." Brian reassured him. "I'll ask Joe to see if he knows what makes Gwil down. He's Gwil's best friend, he'll know. And we'll help him together, yeah? No more telling him what to do."

The other man sighed and mumbled. "I'm sorry."

Brian hugged him.


	17. Find me somebody to love

Everything went sour so much faster than Joe thought, and he realized that when it was too late. When Roger appeared in their lives and acted exactly like how he used to act before: not trusting Alexa, not trusting Ben and insisted on getting rid of him, Joe could see how much it really hurt Ben and Gwil, something he didn't see before. And Reyna as well. Everything had just started to get better and then it all burned up in just one night. Joe loved Roger, but the man could be too firey and stubborn sometimes.

"Hey, why is Ben acting so weird?" Joe asked Gwil in the morning to work, knowing that the Synth sitting in the backseat wouldn't care. He could guess the answer, but asking Gwil would be the best.

His best friend had been like a ghost lately, he still tried to pretend to be happy and bubbly in front of Reyna, but other than that, his mind was somewhere else. He was even quieter than normal, he stopped smiling in general, and he was just lacklustre. Brian, his Dad, had a period of time suffering from depression in the past, and the old man was starting to worry about Gwil. 

"I think he broke up with me." Gwil mumbled, not even looking at him. Joe had no idea how depression got to people, but he had a right to worry as well.

"Why? What happened? Did Roger happen?" Joe raised his eyebrow, and Gwil just nodded rigidly with a sigh.

"He tried to convince me to throw Ben out. Ben's now hurt, and he doesn't want to have anything to do with emotions again."

His blue eyes were so tired and full of guilt that Joe shivered. He reached out to squeeze Gwil's shoulder, but his best friend didn't react to it.

"I don't know what to do." He whispered, eyeing the Synth sitting still with cold, soulless eyes in the back seat. They were so close, there was no one between them now, they could touch each other, talk and look at each other and just feel the love, but Ben was adamant. He didn't want to have a relationship, and he came back to being the Synth like others. No matter how many times Gwil tried to sooth him, the only time he could actually see something from Ben was his frustrated tears, and then after that, the Synth just shut himself from him. Gwil had never felt so helpless. "It's like I can't protect him from my own family even when he risked everything to protect me. I can't--I've spent my life with Roger. I know he loves me, he just cares about me having another heartbreak over Alexa, but--"

"He doesn't know about you and Ben." Joe shook his head. "Do you think that we should--?"

"Honestly, I'm sure it'll be worse when I tell them." Gwil rubbed his forehead. "Dads, I'm actually sleeping with and having a loving relationship with the Synth that my ex wife bought me?"

"Okay, now that's worse." Joe rolled his eyes and scoffed. "This is gonna be serious, Gwil. They might not stay here for long, but even after they get back, Ben won't budge. You'll still have to deal with losing your boyfriend after only a month you were together."

"Do you really think I wouldn't think of that?" Gwil almost snapped. "He is sitting right here! He's listening to all of us, and he knows how horrible it is to everyone, but he doesn't want to be hurt again! He just shut himself out, and what can I do to fix that?"

Joe just sighed and continued to drive. Seemed like it would be a long, long day.

"You can move on." Ben suddenly said from his spot at the back, voice monotonous and cold, and both of them turned to look at him. Gwil balled his hands into shaky fists.

"What do you mean?" He held his breath, and the Synth stared at him, green eyes free of emotions.

"You can forget about what happened between us. Consider me your robot. Find someone else. Some real human that has nothing to do with Alexa."

Gwil groaned and turned back, not even bothering to answer. Ben must have told him to do that times and times again, and Joe knew that his mind was set this time. They had gone through enough to know that Gwil would never think of giving the Synth up. They just needed some time to think of a way to fix this.

When they got into the building, Joe was so focused on watching the expressions on Gwil's face that he didn't catch the voice calling him from behind. Only when both Gwil and Ben stopped from their track did he realize someone was calling his name.

"Hey, Joe! Gwil!" He turned around to look for the voice, and from the end of the hall, a man with dark brown hair and blue eyes, also wearing a white lab coat, was walking towards them with a smile. "Long time no see!"

Ah, Allen Leech. His college friend. Well, his and Gwil's college friend. They weren't very close at college, but they were the only ones from that place getting a job at Colewell Industry, so sometimes they talked together over a few drinks about the good old days. Allen was actually a bright and chill guy. Joe liked him.

"Oooh, Joe's crush." Gwil smirked, the dark cloud from the argument with Ben and Roger finally lifted when his attention turned to his friend. "Long time no see, I haven't seen you since my dream last night."

"Okay, I gave up on him for three months now and you know it." Joe glared at Gwil, but the man just chuckled and waved at Allen with a grin.

"Hey mate! It's been a while."

"Yeah, I really want us to hang out more." Allen got closer to them, and Joe felt his cheeks started to blush. God, it was unfair. Why did he have to spend so much time daydreaming about this man when Allen didn't pay a shred of attention to him? All he cared about was the brilliant, smart Dr. Gwilym Lee. And oh, his beautiful girlfriend as well.

"Who knows, maybe you'll have to cut off the time for your girlfriend for us. Doesn't sound nice to make you do that." Joe rolled his eyes, and Allen laughed. He looked really warm and friendly when he did that.

"Come on, I can't believe I have to tell everyone about this so they can shut up about Ella. We broke up the other day. You're looking at a heartbroken man." Allen raked his hand through his hair, and Joe's heart dropped. Oh. The nice girl that Joe would love if she wasn't his crush's girlfriend.

"Welcome to the club." Gwil held out his hand, and Joe could see Ben flinch in the corner of his eyes. Clearly Gwil was saying that on purpose, because he was also glancing at Ben.

"Oh, who's this?" Allen finally noticed a strange face, and Gwil shrugged.

"He's my new Synthetic. I brought him here to help me with the stuff in the lab, since, you know," He stuck out his injured hand. "I dumbly poured a bunch of chemicals onto my hand."

"Aw mate, that looks painful." Allen sighed.

"Well, should I leave you two here for a chat?" Joe raised his eyebrows, laughing sarcastically. "The heartbroken club? I really have a job to do, you know."

"Alright, alright, I won't bother you guys anymore." Allen chuckled, and Joe's heart fluttered. God, it was annoying. "I have to get back to work too. But maybe we should have lunch together? I really want to see how you're doing."

Gwil nodded before Joe could think of a way to refuse.

"Sure! Text me the place!"

Allen gave them a bright smile before waving goodbye and got back to his own lab at the end of the hall. Joe glared at Gwil.

"What?" The man shrugged. "He's single now! You can have a shot at him. Come on, just because my love life sucks doesn't mean yours have to."

Joe just rolled his eyes and marched to his own lab, their lab, actually, without having any comeback. Seriously, having a crush at this age was starting to become funny more than cute, and Joe wouldn't be the cheap kind of person that would jump right at the first opportunity. Allen was single, but he had just broken up with his girlfriend. He sure needed some time. And Joe was already over him.

The only good thing that they got from that encounter was the fact that Gwil finally freed himself from the thoughts about Ben for a minute. Until they started working face to face together, only half a foot apart in the same room, touching each other's shoulders and arms constantly. Heck, Gwil was even in more troubles than Joe. At least Allen was in another department.

.  
.  
.

They decided to meet at a small cafe in the corner for lunch. They had these nice bagels, and even though Joe knew Gwil loved Ben's lunch box ten times more than that, his friend still went on with this. After all, it wasn't the bagels that he came after.

"Come on, you need to ask him out. Or make him ask you out. You've been dreaming about him for years." Gwil whispered as they crossed the street with Ben scaring away the vehicles off as usual, and Joe just rolled his eyes.

"Stop it. You're pathetic. You need 'somebody to love'. I don't. I'm over him now." 

"Alright, whatever." Gwil threw his hands in the air. "Throw away your chance. You'll join my club soon enough."

"As if." Joe scoffed. 

He wanted to tell Gwil to seriously look back at his actions and notice how wrong it was for him to just hide everything from Ben and left him exposed. Gwil was his friend, and he knew the man wasn't a bad person. He just took Ben's feelings for him for granted, thinking that the Synth would still love him even when Roger hurt his feelings, even when the sky fell in or whatever happened. If Joe were him, he would actually stood up for Ben right away, or at least comfort him when it went south. Heck, he would even if he was still Joe, he just had no idea it was coming because Gwil left him in the dark as well. But then saying the blatant truth to Gwil when he was already hurt wasn't going to work, and Joe couldn't get to Ben even if he tried.

"There he is." Gwil nudged him, and he looked up to see Allen already waiting for them in a table. Joe let out a sigh and decided that maybe he needed to take a break from worrying for Gwil all the time and just did something for himself.

"Hi, Joe! Hi Gwil!" Allen stood up, greeting cheerfully, and he eyed Ben standing at the back skeptically. "And hello… How should I call you anyway?"

"You can call me Benjamin Lee." The Synth said, standing in a rigid position behind Gwil's chair, and Allen nodded awkwardly.

"Yeah, hello Benjamin."

"You can just call him Ben." Gwil cut them off and sat down, pulling Joe with him. The man clearly wanted this to be about Joe too. He was hitting dead ends with his own relationship, so he wanted to focus on Joe instead. "Anyway, how's work these days? Is there anything fun in the new department?"

"Oh, it's nothing special." Allen ducked his head, and Joe found it adorable. "Probably nothing like the projects Colewell gives you."

"Don't speak so little of yourself, you're the best chemist I've ever seen." Joe shrugged, and laughed at Gwil's glare. "Better than you, Dr. Lee, whatever."

"You know what, enough about work." Allen raised his hands. "We're here to see each other as human beings, might as well spill the beans about my ex and then you can tell me how you've been lately, yeah?"

And Allen told them about his ex girlfriend, the one that was so perfect, so amazing and pure and innocent, that made Joe have cold feet the last time he wanted to have something with this man. Joe was well aware of the fact that Allen was bisexual, he just didn't think he could ever match up to his lovely, warm and sweet aura, the incredible intelligence he had, and Joe was told that he was too much sometimes. Sure, Gwil loved him, Roger and Brian loved him, most of his friends did, but Joe once came off annoying and rude and inelegant to his ex boyfriend, and it made him self-doubt more than he admitted. 

Gwil kept denying and denying everything that guy said, Gwil told Joe that he deserved better, but Joe wasn't sure. He had always acted like a hurricane that would sweep over everything in his way, but only his best friend knew how much that toxic guy broke him before. If it wasn't for Gwil, he might still be tricked by him until now.

Allen… Allen was just a crush he had when he felt lonely. He didn't feel lonely much, because Gwil was always right there with him, groaning and moaning about how true love was dead to him. But now that Gwil was caught up in his own love story, with someone that loved him so much yet he still managed to lose… Joe didn't want to go through that lonely feeling again.

Joe glanced at Gwil when he told Allen about how he didn't actually go out and give anyone a chance at him for a while, and his best friend just nodded. Gwil was right about leaving that toxic ex boyfriend, he would be right this time.

"Seriously? No one? At all?" Allen blinked rapidly, and Joe blushed. Gwil looked like he wanted to take out his phone for a picture.

"I mean… Work gets in the way." Joe shrugged, trying to hide his embarrassment, and Allen reached over the table, placing his hands on his calming him down.

"Hey, I'm just surprised someone so awesome and badass could stay single for so long, that's all." Allen smiled, and the genuine warmth radiating from it made Joe melt a little. "I'm sure you can have anyone you wanted when you have the time."

Joe remembered looking at Gwil and Ben the other day and wishing there was someone who could look at him the same way they looked at each other. He wasn't sure if Allen was the one, but if he never tried, he'd never know. So when a small encouraging push on his back happened when both of Gwil hands were on the table and the only one close enough was Ben behind their chairs, Joe took it.

"Hey, is it okay if I...buy you a drink tomorrow night?" Joe blurted out, almost squeezing his eyes shut waiting for the answer, when Allen chuckled.

"As long as there's no Gwil or anyone else there."


	18. In the land that our grandchildren knew

"Hey, thank you for encouraging me to go on the date with Allen." Joe finally said after a while of seeing Ben vacuuming his guest room in silence. He knew the Synth was pretending to keep Gwil away, but it was different from him. He wasn't the one who hurt Ben's feelings.

"He was giving you clear signs of a wish to go on a date. His facial expressions, movements and pheromones were showing that he wanted to ask you out, but he was too nervous." Ben didn't even look at him, eyes still focused on the small gaps between the wall and the bed. He had been doing this since the day they met and Joe was still not used to it. The Synth could see right through him.

"You can sense his pheromones?" Joe grimaced, and he swore Ben was trying to hold back a laughter.

"I'm built for many purposes." The Synth replied, standing up to be on the same eye level. "I can also tell that you are in a good mood after the date and you snuck into the house by 5 am, which means you stayed at his until at least 4:45 am. I calculated the velocity, distance and time, please don't question me."

Joe rolled his eyes, laughing. "Okay, so what are you saying?"

"I say according to my information, you had a sexual intercourse with him last night after your date and it went well." Ben gave him a small wicked smile, and Joe knew it was a crack on his Synthetic shell. He knew it. Ben was mad at Gwil, but not at him. Of course, how could Lannisters be against each other?

"And that's where your information betrayed you my friend," Joe returned with a smug smile, sprawling out on his bed. "We didn't have sex."

"I beg to differ." Ben scoffed, and Joe sat up.

"Oh, I'm saying the truth. We went on a date, we made out, but we didn't really have sex." Joe shrugged.

"It would be nice of you to enlighten me on this." Ben smirked, he was breaking his facade when he was the only one in the room with Joe, and it lifted a weight in his chest. Seeing Gwil, Brian and Roger's dark clouds were enough. If Ben was acting like them too, Joe would explode.

"We went to his place, and I asked him to just cuddle because I want to be sure of our relationship before moving to something more significant, and he said yes." Joe chirped, and Ben honest to God, laughed.

"What? How? Are you two Reyna's age? Cuddle?"

"Oh, and how old are you?"

"10 months, but that's not the point." Ben shrugged.

"Hey, I just want to have something serious." Joe moved over to make his point, pulling the sheets with him. Allen was more than he could ever ask for, and he knew that his senses might be dulled at the moment, being head over heels over that man, but everything seemed so clear to him. He wanted to look at that man and have a future with him. He didn't want just a fling. He was too greedy not to want more.

Ben gave him a small smile, and Joe sighed, dreamily.

"I really want a chance to have a future with him. I don't want something short term or in secret. That's just--unhealthy for me now."

He waited for a reply from Ben, but it never came. The Synth seemed to freeze when he heard what Joe said, and it took him some time to come to an understanding.

"Oh, no, Ben, I don't mean--"

"I know you don't." Ben's fingers fumbled with the buttons on the vacuum cleaner. His eyes went numb. "I--It's true, though."

Argh, there it was. Everything came back to the drama between Roger, Gwil and Ben. Joe sighed as he jumped off the bed. No one cared to tell him anything about it. Ben was too busy pretending to be a robot, Gwil was too busy being desperate and confused, and Roger and Brian were too busy being upset. He only found out about it since yesterday, and it seemed like Gwil didn't need his help in this situation. Whenever he brought the topic up, trying to give some advice on mending the cracks, Gwil cut the conversation short and disappeared. Gwil kept stubbornly saying that he had to fix his mistakes on his own. Joe's best friend would rather avoid the wound instead of really facing it, and tease him about his date with Allen as a way out of it. The date was one of the best he had had in a while, and it took his mind off the troubles for a night, but then this happened.

Now Ben had just become his new friend, but Joe found out he actually liked this guy, and he loved Gwil like a brother, and he hated seeing the tension ruining their lives. He loved them, all of them, and the last thing he wanted was to see them falling apart.

"Hey, I don't mean it to be about you and Gwil. You two are different." Joe sighed, and Ben stopped. He put the vacuum cleaner down gently before turning around.

"I made up my mind, Joe. I'm done being his doll. You said it, it's unhealthy. I never deserved it anyway, according to his Father."

"Roger and Brian are not your boyfriend, Ben. Gwil is." Joe crossed his arms.

"And what have he done to defend his boyfriend when Dr. May and Mr. Taylor came? He didn't bother to tell them about me before that." The Synth was glaring at him, and it was impossible to look at him like this and still think he was a soulless robot.

"The first thing I know, Roger tried to throw you out into the street. Gwil said no. He insisted on keeping you." Joe tapped his finger on his own arm. "He's really lost right now, Ben, you need to give him a chance. He's been trying to fix this. You two can find a solution together instead of running and hiding, which is exactly what both of you are doing."

Ben's lips shook as he stared at Joe. "I will never be accepted, Joe. I will never be good enough, true enough, and I hate having feelings. It's like shit."

"And yet you're cursed with it, just like all of us humans." Joe threw his hands into the air. "You can't choose to not be who you are, Ben! But you can choose to go forward and earn good feelings, or staying in those four walls of yours and drown in your own negative ones. Heck, you can leave. If you don't love Gwil anymore, you can just run away, pretend to be a human, find someone you love for real. Just don't--deny it."

"It's easy for you to say." Ben rolled his eyes in frustration. "I'm sure you can have anyone you wanted when you have the time."

"Okay, I already told Gwil I don't want to interfere with your love life anymore, and I don't appreciate you dragging Allen into this," Joe stepped closer to the Synth, speaking slowly. "But that's my advice for you, because I care. The only reason I'm still here is to help. Give him a chance, be with him through highs and lows, like normal couples do together. Stop torturing him and yourself. Follow it or not, it's up to you."

.  
.  
.

Roger had been trying to open his mouth first, he really did. He wanted nothing but to end the pressure that had been pushing down on the entire family ever since he came, but he just couldn't find a way to voice it. It hurt seeing how his own outburst hurt Gwil's feelings, and it hurt that everything, all of this, was his fault in the first place.

He lived his whole life worrying if Gwil ever saw him as less than his biological mother, Anita, worrying if Gwil ever considered him not a real parent. He was a rock star since he was in college, people's words and judgement didn't bother him anymore. But Gwil's opinions always mattered. And sometimes the fears and worries he had turned his emotions into a mess. And when a mess happened inside his head, he tended to mess up everything around him as well.

Roger introduced Gwil to Alexa. He let her into his son's life, and ruining it. When Gwil finally seemed to recover from it, Ben showed up, and instead of swallowing his guilt and pride and just spending some time to actually see how much he did for Gwil, Roger acted out and managed to put another deep cut into their relationship. He was known for being stubborn and hot headed, and Brian wouldn't marry him if he didn't know and embrace it, but sometimes Roger still did something that made himself regret. Ben… Ben was still looking like a risk, but he was slowly seeing how the Synth made their lives better. He once came across Ben changing Gwil's bandages the other day, and he couldn't ask for someone to be more meticulous, careful and...caring. The atmosphere between them was still heavy from Gwil's down spirit, but it didn't change the fact that Ben was more than gentle.

The old man sighed as he paced around the apartment, not knowing what to say. He promised Brian he would ask Joe about how to mend things with Gwil, but he just couldn't find the answer he was looking for. The young man refused to give any details about exactly why Ben meant so much to Gwil. He kept insisting that it wasn't his business to tell, and Gwil would tell him if Gwil thought he was ready. It poked at Roger's curiosity even more - what about Ben was so serious Gwil didn't think Roger would be ready for? Joe never said a word. The only thing he told Roger, was that Gwil was in a lot of pain right now, and he needed to do something about it if he really cared about his son. Brian told him the same thing. His doubt was still there - he didn't believe Alexa would give away a Synthetic just for free, she must be manipulating Gwil through Ben somehow, but he knew he had to put it aside. If Alexa did something, they needed to stick together to protect each other. Gwil didn't need another pressure on him.

"So what are you going to do?" Brian asked as they sipped their tea, enjoying the rare silence in the life of a rock star. The fame, the music, the recording and touring schedule had been dizzying, and being in a peaceful and quiet home was soothing. The evenings like these were rare, when they didn't have to rush or trying to savor every precious second to close their eyes.

"I'll just apologize to him." Roger sighed, leaning on Brian's shoulder, feeling his husband's arm around him.

"Just apologize?" Brian raised his eyebrow. "No questioning? No getting to the bottom of the problem? Doesn't sound like my Roger."

"Your Roger is mean and he is hurting our son's feelings." Roger rolled his eyes, kissing Brian chastely. "He needs to go."

"So you're going to let everything go and give them the benefit of the doubt?" Brian chuckled, asking again, and Roger swatted his shoulder.

"You know I won't ever trust anything coming from Alexa, don't roll your eyes at me. I'm making peace with it doesn't mean I have to. Joe told me Gwil will tell me when I'm ready, meaning there's a problem." The man huffed. "I know I'm not perfect."

"You're right, you're far from perfect." Brian shook his curly strand out of his face before putting another kiss on his forehead. It used to be soft, smooth, with youth and life flowing like waves. Now it was just some wrinkly piece of skin, with marks of old age and purely white hair. But Brian never acted like he had aged for one bit. "But you're willing to try to become better for our son, for our family, and that's the man I love. I'm really proud of you."

"Alright, alright," Roger snuggled into his lap for a second before pulling his arm. "Can you come with me?"

"To go apologize to Gwil? Right now?" Brian asked, and the other man nodded.

"He must be in the study, working on something. He always works." The man laughed. "He's like a mini you."

"He looks like me, but he has your eyes." Brian smiled as they stood up from the chairs to go find Gwil, and Roger chuckled.

"He's not Harry Potter, Brimi. And it's not like I gave him any genes."

"You shaped his personality with me." Brian held his waist, smiling. "There is a reason he has a strong character like his second Dad."

"Hmm." Roger brushed it away as they approached the study. He knocked, but no one answered, so he peeked in a little, and saw no one inside. So Gwil wasn't working on his projects and experiments, after all.

They decided to go find him in his bedroom, trying to see if he was there. Roger looked clearly nervous about the things he would say to Gwil, blue eyes kept staring at the distance, and Brian squeezed his hand. It was always hard for his husband to express his emotions freely and cheesily through words. They walked down the hall to get to Gwil's bedroom when they crossed Reyna's room, and suddenly the voices inside made Roger stop on his track. He pulled Brian back and hushed him to make out the voices.

"Do you want me to read you a story before sleep, Reyna?" Obviously the Synthetic.

"Uhhh…" The little girl sounded like she was thinking hard. "I don't know, I… Why don't you sing me something? I like songs."

"You mean lullabies? Do you have any song in mind, or do you want me to choose?"

"Do you want to pick a song, Daddy?" Wait, Gwil's there?

"No, sweetie. I'm just listening. Your pick."

"Okay, so… How about that folk song about space travel? You know, the one that Daddy always out on? The one Grandpas played?"

39.

"Of course, Reyna." The Synthetic replied. There was a short silence before the voice of the Synth gently flowed through the air, bringing the melody that Brian wrote to life.

_In the year of '39 assembled here the volunteers_   
_In the days when the lands were few_   
_Here the ship sailed out into the blue and sunny morn_   
_The sweetest sight ever seen._

There was no drums, no guitar, no background vocals, only the low, sweet voice of the Synthetic, and somehow Brian could feel all of his feelings in the song despite it being sung by a robot. The voice was nowhere near a singer's trained voice with full of techniques, but it was so genuine they could think a real father was singing to his daughter and not a Synthetic.

_And the night followed day_   
_And the story tellers say_   
_That the score brave souls inside_   
_For many a lonely day sailed across the milky seas_   
_Never looked back, never feared, never cried._

Suddenly Gwil's voice joined the Synth's, and they blended together as the next part of the song came.

_Don't you hear my call though you're many years away_   
_Don't you hear me calling you_   
_Write your letters in the sand_   
_For the day I take your hand_   
_In the land that our grandchildren knew_

After the last note of the chorus, the Synthetic stopped singing. It sounded like the little girl was already asleep during the first half of the song. It was still shocking how perfectly their voices complimented each other, help covering up each other's flaws and bringing the melody, which was already slow and sweet, into something even more emotional. No wonder Reyna fell asleep right when she listened to those singing voices. Brian knew he and Roger raised their son well.

He looked at Roger. "Should we…?"

His husband put a finger on his lips and they continued to wait. After a long awkward silence, Gwil suddenly said.

"You sounded amazing."

"Thank you for helping me with the higher part." Ben replied with his even voice. "I stopped before the second verse because it sounds to sad for Reyna to listen to. I hope it is fine."

"Of course, nothing's wrong. I thought a perfect Synthetic like you might have at least the voice range of my Dad." Gwil chuckled slightly, and this time, there was something else in Ben's voice.

"I'm a robot, not a God, Gwil." It sounded like sarcasm. Roger's breath picked up. It was strange.

"It's still really sweet." Their son said, and the sound of the chair being pushed on the ground told them that he stood up. Brian quickly pulled him away from the door, but the footsteps didn't come close to their spot.

It sounded like Gwil went across the room, where the Synth was, and then stopped.

"If you want to do this," Ben whispered. "You need to say the words."

Gwil sighed. "Ben, I… Come on. You know I don't want that. What do I have to do for you to forgive me? I can't--"

There was no answer. Brian and Roger waited and waited, but Ben didn't utter a word.

Gwil sighed again, and he walked out of the room. He opened the door to the empty hallway and walked towards his bedroom, getting in early.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There'll be a big thing happen next chapter, stay tuned!


	19. Tell us

"Oh, preparing for the lunch date with the new boyfriend?" Gwil teased as Joe started to dig up his wardrobe to look for anything that looked good, and this time, his friend didn't even care to correct him.

It had only been a short time since Joe started seeing Allen, and he could already see how it changed him. Of course, Joe had always been a ball of energy and positivity, not even the horrible history of his love manage to dim his spirit. He was always the confident, funny and fearless man everyone knew and loved despite being alone, nursing the old wounds. Gwil suffered from the same bad experience, but he never managed to have the strength and smile that Joe had. It seemed like the betrayal and hurt in the past never affected him at all. Seeing him so excited for the real first date he had with Allen, Gwil would mistake him for a high school student. 

Joe was so happy, he really was, with Allen around, and Gwil had never been more grateful for his friend. He caught Joe staring at his and Ben's joined hands sometimes in the past, and deep down he knew Joe wished to have a similar thing. Now that Allen, sweet, gallant, gentle and truthful Allen, came into his life, and Gwil became the one envious with his best friend's happiness. Of course he wouldn't just let it slide without any deep look into Allen's background and personality to make sure that he was genuine with Joe, but that would be for another day. Gwil wanted to see his friend having fun.

"Hah!" Joe exclaimed as he finally found what he was looking for - a nice navy dress shirt that was too elegant for Joe's normal style, and brought it into the bathroom along with his trousers. Gwil just shook his head and chuckled. 

He came back to the report in his laptop, typing on some words. Their research for the chemicals had gone so far - they almost cracked the code, just a few more knots to untie and they could launch an entirely life changing product. But that didn't mean he had to pass the boring work of writing report back to Colewell. His boss seemed to be extremely attentive to this project. Gwil sighed. He had to finish this report in an hour, and all he had been doing the entire morning was thinking about Ben. It was hard to take his mind off last night, when he finally made a move, testing the waters to see if there was any chance of calming down the Synth. It didn't work.

He missed having Ben close so, so much. The Synth was right there in his house, even followed him to work, but the distance between them was worse than ever. Ben was scared, he could see it in those green plastic eyes, and he was desperate to erase it. Erase the fear. Ben was scared that his Dads would find out, and everyone else would find out, and he had no faith in their love. Not one bit. It was like Gwil was such an unreliable person that Ben never felt safe around him. Like Roger only needed to say a word and Gwil would kick him out without a doubt. The disappointment hurt.

Gwil curled up in his bed, missing the feelings of having another body next to him. A mop of soft, blond hair that somehow smelled like roses, a pair of glassy green eyes that turned almost transparent when the sun came through, and a pair of sweet lips that kept demanding for kisses all day long. If only he could reach out and pull Ben into his arms without feeling like a criminal. Ben would let him do it, he would let Gwil do anything to him, just say the magic words and he could kiss, touch and fuck anytime he wanted, but Ben never forgot to give him the pained look. It made any attempt in his head back away fast. He wasn't going to rape Ben. Ben wasn't a normal, mindless Synthetic. He had his own consciousness, emotions and thoughts.

He had been trying to find a way to tell Roger and Brian off without upsetting them. It was the only way that could show how much he cared. How much he was willing to stand up to protect Ben. He was his own man, and he could choose to be with anyone he wanted to. But then, he had to tell them the truth about their relationship, and he wasn't sure if Roger was ready. They were still his parents. They were still the ones who raised him, loved him and gave him the life he had today. And Gwil never had to say anything against them before, Brian always understood him, and Roger always supported him. Whenever they advised him to not do anything, most of the time, they were right. But Ben made him want to be wrong.

"Okay, Gwil, what do you think?" Joe burst out of the bathroom to show Gwil his outfit, and the man had to say, he looked more decent than he had ever been in the decades they knew each other.

"Allen better be worth it." He shrugged, and Joe gave him a huge smile.

"He's really great, Gwil." He looked into the mirror again to fix his hair with a dopey grin. "I've never been able to talk with someone for so long. It feels comfortable around him. I don't have to walk on eggshells worrying that he would find me unattractive. He's…into me. Like, it's so obvious even I can see that."

Joe never said it, but he had his own insecurities, no matter how much he tried to hide them. And Gwil was happy to know that Allen made him feel treasured. He had seen Allen with his own eyes, and he had to agree: that man was also head over heels for Joe. They were moving fast, but right now, Gwil wished to have someone who would go that fast with him. It was like Joe was ready to marry the man, and the strange thing was that Gwil felt fine about it. Comparing to his own blocked lovelife, it was fine.

"Just tell him if he ever hurts you, I'll break his leg." Gwil said casually as he got off the bed and patted Joe on his back. Joe laughed.

"That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." He fluttered his eyelashes playfully and they headed to the door. 

They crossed the kitchen on the way out, and the rest of the family was already on the table, waiting to have lunch. Brian and Roger were chatting with Reyna, and Ben was standing at the corner of the table, still and waiting for any request. Gwil tried not to remember how he used to sit in the chair next to Gwil and feed him with flushed cheeks and a goofy smile. The little girl looked up to see Joe. 

"Where are you going, Uncle Joe?" She turned around in her chair, and Joe got to her to put a kiss on her hair.

"I'm going out! For a date!" He chirped cheerfully, and Reyna's eyes brightened. 

"Really? Yay!" She giggled. "Where is your date? Are they here to pick you up?"

"Well, I--"

The front door suddenly slammed open and a woman barged in.

"You FUCKED HIM?!" Alexa screeched, waving her phone in front of them. No one, not Roger, Brian, Gwil or Joe knew what was going on and why she was there. They all froze in shock.

"I'm sorry, Ms Toddson. I have to ask you to leave." Ben was standing in front of her in minutes, holding out his arm to keep her from coming any deeper inside the house. Gwil looked at Reyna, and she was curling up in Joe's arms in fear. 

Alexa's face was all red and twisted in anger. She pushed Ben away, trying to get past him. "Move aside, you dumb Synth! You--you slept with him! You all despise me for doing the same thing!"

Joe quickly picked Reyna up in his arms and got inside, not forgetting to glanced back at Gwil as a warning. Get rid of her before Reyna has to see something bad.

"Please remain calm as you leave, Ms Toddson." Ben replied with a cold voice as he started to push her back out. 

"Stop pushing me! You know nothing!" She screamed again, and this time, Brian cut everyone off.

"Alexa." He asked from his seat, voice low. "What do you mean when you said that?"

"Oh, you have no idea, do you?" The woman narrowed her eyes at them. Roger squeezed his hand. "Your son, your beloved son, who is so hurt by seeing me kissing a Synth, is now fucking one. This one. A faulty, cheap illegally sold one, which I bought with half the price of a real one."

She pointed accusingly at Ben. "You. I bought you as an olive branch to fix what I did, and now you--You are just a machine. Why did he choose you? He never touches, much less sleep with anyone he doesn't love. Why you?"

The Synth stepped back as she surged forward with her rage. His facade broke into a million pieces as his eyes widened in shock and fear, his mouth falling open and he looked paler than usual. Alexa was too much in her own head to notice. "You--you cheap thing! You are faulty! You don't deserve him! I can't believe I--"

"Enough." Gwil stepped in between them and pushed her back, shielding a frozen Ben from his predator. 

"Oh, you're defending it now?" She laughed bitterly. "Of course, you're fucking it. After how you treat me with what's between me and Edward, I can't imagine something like this. Why, Gwil? You haven't told your parents, Gwil. Is it because you're scared they'll hate you the same way they hated me?"

Gwil clenched his jaw, keeping Ben behind him. "They hate you because you cheated on me, Alexa. It has nothing to do with the Synth, or Ben. The fact that you bought an illegal Synth for me is enough of an insult. Do you really think something like that would make things better between us?"

"I bought it so it can clean the damn house, Gwil! Not to fuck! It doesn't have to be expensive!" 

"No, no. Actually, I have to thank you for bringing him to me." Gwil tilted his head. "He's not like other Synths, Alexa. He's a hundred times better, better than humans like you. I used to have feelings for you, Alexa, until you betrayed me. But I learned my lesson now, and I'm sure that Ben will never do the same thing to me."

Alexa fell silent, eyes widen at him. 

"Oh God." She whispered. "You're in love with him. You're in love with a machine."

"How does that feel, then?" Gwil gently, but firmly, turned her around by the shoulders and pushed her out of the door. "Seeing your husband choosing a robot over you?"

"You're making a mistake." She tried to tell him, but he ignored her.

"Don't ever come here again. I'm sure Reyna's seen enough of you."

He turned around to see Ben frozen in place, millions of emotions swirled in his eyes. He looked as if a storm had just swept through the house, turning everything to overdrive. Behind him, Brian and Roger were sitting in the table, the tension thick in the air. Gwil couldn't make out their expressions, either. He stepped back in, and took Ben's hand in his. The Synth blindly followed him as they sat down facing his parents, and Gwil cleared his throat.

"Dads, there's something about Ben that we've been hiding from you. He's afraid that if you knew, you would throw him into the street." He glanced at Ben, who gave him terrified eyes. "And I'm telling you now that it's never going to happen as long as I'm here."

A beat of silence. 

"Alright." Brian took in a sharp breath. "Tell us."


	20. Forgive

Joe sighed in relief as Reyna started to fall asleep on her bed. It took him so long to try to calm her down, and to be honest, seeing his favorite niece crying herself to sleep seeing her mother and father fighting was not on his list. It hurt seeing such an innocent angel being ignored and stomped over like that. She was just a child. And she was a good child. She didn't deserve to see this. Joe pushed the sweaty bangs away from her baby face, gently caressing her cheek. She looked so tired, face all snotty from crying and panicking. He took a towel to clean her face before putting the covers onto her.

His phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a hundred missed calls and messages from Allen. Oh God, he totally forgot about Allen. Oh shit. He was on his way to his date with Allen and now it's an hour since the time they agreed to meet! Allen must be outraged with him.

"Allen?"

"Joe! Where have you been?!" The man on the other side was freaking out, rather than angry. "I was so worried! I thought something happened to you on the way! I came to pick you up at your flat but you weren't there! Are you okay?"

Oh, the flat. He had the courtesy to come and pick Joe up at his place, and Joe totally forgot about him. Allen was even worried! Oh, Joe was a horrible boyfriend. "God, Allen, I'm sorry, I don't--I'm not living in the flat at the moment. I'm staying at Gwil's to help him with his daughter when he's recovering from the injuries."

"...I thought he has a Synth to take care of that." Allen sounded sad, and Joe knew what he was thinking.

"No! It's not that! I'm just his friend, I don't have anything more with him. Allen, how can I go out with you if I'm having a relationship with him?" Joe groaned. "I'm just guilty for being responsible for hurting my best friend, okay? So I want to stay. To make sure he heals right. Please don't make things more complicated than it already is."

"What's complicated?" Allen asked from the other side, and Joe sighed again. He glanced at the sleeping little girl, and sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry. It's a mess here right now, and I don't know what to do. Can we have our date in some other time? I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"You don't sound okay." The man's warm voice always got to him like no other.

"I… Well, it's nothing to do with me. I'm just upset." Joe curled up in his spot.

"What are you upset about?"

"You know Gwil's divorced, right? He has a daughter with that woman. Her name is Reyna, and she's the sweetest, loveliest, and kindest girl I've ever seen. Children are normally assholes, but she isn't. She's my goddaughter, and I love her so, so much." He leaned back on the headboard and stared up the wall. He tried to cut off the details about Ben, even when Allen made he want to spill everything. That was one of his superpowers: to make people let their guard down so much they were willing to tell him their hearts.

"I would want to meet her someday." Allen said, sweetly, and Joe smiled.

"Yeah. She's been really happy lately since Gwil's parents came over for a visit. They're her idol grandpas."

"Grandpas?"

"They're gay, yeah. Gwil's mom passed away since we were kids, so his second father helped to bring him up. They are really cool, his dads. Used to take me and Gwil on world trips when we were eleven."

Allen chuckled. "You've been friends for that long?"

"Yep." Joe nodded, even though he knew Allen wouldn't see it. "Anyway, she's really happy. But an hour ago, her mother came barging in the house, screaming a fight with Gwil about...something I don't care about. I mean, I've never divorced someone before, so I have no idea how it feels like, but she didn't bat an eye to her daughter."

"God."

"She was sitting right there, and Gwil's ex wife came in like a damn thunderstorm, ripping everything up. I had to take Reyna to her room and calm her down. She cried herself to sleep thinking it was something she did wrong that made her mother so mad."

Allen sighed on the other side. "You're still there with her? Is she asleep?"

"Yeah, but I'm getting back to my room now. Why?"

"I'm on my way."

"What?!" 

"You still owe me a date."

.  
.  
.

For a creature with unbelievable strength and durability, Ben looked as vulnerable as a puppy with ears flatten out on his head. His hand shook in Gwil's palm as he stared at Brian and Roger, and then at him, not knowing what to do. Whatever faults those people put into him in the first place, they did a great job of turning him into a real human. Gwil squeezed his hand tighter as an encouragement and started talking, slowly, calmly, waiting for his parents' response.

"Ben isn't like other Synthetics. Like Alexa just told you, he's not really from Persona. Well, not now, at least. He was created as a bodyguard model there, until he was stolen from his previous owner. She bought him from the thieves who modified him so the company will lose his tracks. That way he was--cheaper." He took in a deep breath. "They tested some new programs on him, and they somehow gave him emotions and consciousness."

Roger and Brian were both too shocked to utter a word. They just stared at Ben, eyes wide in disbelief. The Synth almost curled up to avoid the gaze.

"He's not a machine or a robot, Dad. He has a mind. He has a heart. Just like all of us. Whatever they did to him didn't make him faulty and broken." Gwil bit his lip. "He was confused with it, but after a while we were together, he...he learnt. He cares about Reyna, you saw that, right? He looks after both of us with more love than I could ever ask for in my ex wife, who is a real human. And after that we...we fell in love with each other. Both he and I. We're a couple, but we've been hiding it from Reyna and from you, because we're afraid of how you might react. But please hear me out, he's the one that I can finally open up to with trust, Dad, and no matter what you say about him, I won't let him go."

"How did Alexa know about you two?" Brian came up with a question, and Ben opened his mouth. His voice trembled a little.

"For any normal Synth, there's a report that its mother company send to its owner every month about all of its activities, including the...sexual mode. It is likely that the thieves still keep track of me and they sent it to Alexa." His eyes darted back down, not daring to look at Brian and Roger any longer. He was scared.

Gwil moved closer and put an arm around his back. "Can you stop them from knowing, then?"

The Synth hesitated, but nodded. He peered up at Gwil's soft blue eyes, still worried, but had some more trust. Gwil knew he did it right, standing up against Alexa for this. "I will."

"Good." The man kissed his forehead, and Ben didn't turn away like yesterday. He just stared back at Gwil with pleading eyes, and the man held him closer.

"Dad… Joe knows about this. He was skeptical at first, he hated Ben at first, just like you, and I almost listened to him when he said I should return Ben to Persona." Gwil's thumb rubbed on Ben's hip gently, easing him. His blue eyes shone with determination. "But he changed his mind now, because he knows how important Ben is to me. I failed to stand up for him in the past, so I won't this time."

His parents were quiet for another while. All they did was looking back and forth, sighing and looking for the right word to say. It must be like hell for Ben, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even before they met, Brian and Roger already meant a lot to him. He, just like humans, wanted to be loved, wanted a family, and Gwil knew he wished to be a part of Gwil's small, weird family, no matter how weird and sometimes fucked up it was. Ben had been trying to make them like him for every second they were here. He memorised their favorite coffee, even Roger's ridiculous amount of sugar (three sevenths sugar, meaning Ben weighted each cube of sugar with a digital portion scale, did the math in his head and weighted for the exact amount to put in) and Brian's vegetarian menu. Heck, he upgraded Brian's vegetarian menu into a whole new level. He never said it, but Gwil could see how much he tried, even when wanted to cut ties with Gwil. He just hoped that Brian and Roger could see that.

"Gwilym…" Roger took in a breath, and Ben went rigid in his arm. Gwil's breath caught in his throat. 

"This is a lot to take in." Brian rubbed his forehead, while glancing at Roger, who was still gaping at them in awe, and Gwil's heart dropped. They didn't get it. "It's just--"

"I don't care." Roger blurted out, and all of them stared at him. Even Ben. "I don't...care if he's stolen or if he has emotions. I just want you to be happy, Gwil."

Gwil's heart was beating so loudly in his ear he thought he heard wrong.

"I don't want his appearance to remind you of Alexa. And I'm sorry for bringing you into her mess in the first place."

"Roger, you know it's not--" Brian groaned, but his husband cut him off.

"It doesn't matter, Brian. I'm responsible for what happened, and I hate that I made that mistake. That's why everytime I look at him, Gwil, I thought of my failure." He swallowed thickly, and Gwil's vision blurred with unshed tears. "But if you sees him and sees nothing but someone you love and not someone who betrayed you and a father who failed you… Then that's fine. That's it. I can reshape the universe if it is to make you happy. I'm sure that I can stand seeing my son having sex with a robot he loves and loves him."

Ben's confused doe eyes turned to Brian, still couldn't really believe in what he just heard, and the older man chuckled gently. "It means that you're welcomed to stay, Benjamin."

Tears started welling from the Synth's eyes as he fell into Gwil's arms and buried his face into the man's chest. Ben knew his facade was breaking into pieces as he laughed and cried at the same time as he squeezed himself into Gwil's hold, but he just didn't care. Gwil's large, gentle hands were stroking his hair, caressing his back, rocking back and forth like he was holding a baby, and Ben let it all out. Having feelings hurt. But he loved it, as long as he had this man with him.

.  
.  
.

Someone knocked on his window, and Joe almost jumped out of his bed. The rap at the window stopped after he went out to check, and Allen was standing right outside with a huge bouquet of rose, and Joe kept himself from laughing.

"Seriously? What is this, High school musical?" He asked as he opened the window and let Allen got in. They shared a small kiss, the chaste peck that really made them feel like some high schoolers in Albuquerque.

"It's called Irish manners, Joe, you should get used to it." Allen rolled his eyes, and put the bouquet down on the nightstand. 

"How did you find the way here?" Joe put his arms around Allen's neck, and he grinned.

"I might have snuck up into the company's system to find out where Gwil lives." 

"So you've heard that I like bad boys." Joe smirked, and the other man laughed. He held Joe's hips in his hands and walked backwards, leading him to the bed. After a few steps, the edge of the mattress hit the back of his knees and they fell onto the bed into a messy heap.

Joe was lying on top of Allen, forearms bracing on both sides of his head, looking down at the man who had been rocking his world for the last couple of weeks. Allen's sparkling blue eyes stared up at him. Allen could smile with just his eyes. All of the exhaustion and rage slowly seeped from him, the longer he stayed in the man's embrace.

"Feeling better now?" The man kissed him slowly, and he nodded, melting into his lap with a content sigh. 

"Can we just cuddle?" Joe asked, voice tiny, and Allen nodded with another kiss.

"Yes, Joe. Let's cuddle."


	21. Papa

Gwil opened his eyes as his body felt like soft cotton floating in the air. It felt like he had died and gone to heaven, pure contentment enveloped his being. The room was still dimmed, he wasn't even sure if it was early or late, but he couldn't make out the thought when his mind was tingling with waves and waves of sensation. It took him a few seconds to finally understand why.

"Hn…" He whimpered, trying to move his legs, and indeed, feeling the weight of someone around his hips. "Ben…?"

"Good morning, Dr. Lee." The Synth pulled the blanket covering his head and gave him a sunny, sweet smile. Which was an absolute contrast to his shiny lips that had just wrapped around Gwil's morning wood a second ago.

Ben knew it turned Gwil on when he smiled oh so innocently, and he was using all of his advantages.

"Oh God." The man swallowed, his cock got obviously harder as he tried to take in a breath from the purely erotic and angelic sight in front of him. "Just...Gwil."

"Good morning to Gwil, then." Ben still smiled, eyes twinkling as he leaned down to put some small kisses on his thighs, hands caressing the flesh, but not touching his cock. 

"What do you think you're doing, naughty one?" Gwil cleared his voice, reaching out to touch his cheek, and Ben immediately melted into his touch like a kitten. He gently rubbed his cheek on Gwil's palm, eyes closed. 

"Showing you how much I love you." He whispered, looking up with his big green eyes, and Gwil almost gasped. He reached out to haul Ben up and kiss him hard, ignoring his surprised noise.

"I love you more." He devoured Ben's lips, fondled his tongue and caressed every inch of skin he could get his hands on. They did this before. Heck, they had tons of sex before, but it was never like this. It never felt so free, and Gwil was still processing this freedom that he had. Before, Ben was his secret, his guilty pleasure, the one be had to pretend not to love and acted like he didn't consider more than a robot around people. Now, all of the shackles were gone. Ben was a person, who he loved and loved him back, and there was nothing to hide from the world. Ben was his now.

"I know how much your cock loves me." Ben replied cheekily as he palmed Gwil's naked hard cock, and the man groaned. They had so much sex last night he honestly thought he couldn't get hard for another week. Ben's battery was never more powerful as he rode Gwil until he lost his mind, and then they fucked as they embraced each other on the bed, and then they fucked in front of the mirror, and on the bedroom wall, and then in the shower, and Gwil almost passed out. Ben even named them all. Make up sex, celebration sex, grateful sex, all of them. And just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine.

"You abused my cock." Gwil rolled his eyes, and his hips as well. Ben's fingers were known to be skillful. "I don't think it loves you much."

"Oh? You don't think so?" Ben pouted as he lifted his hand from Gwil's cock and hid it behind his back. "Then I guess I won't--"

Gwil's hands immediately shot out to grab that sinful hand and pull it back where it belonged. "No, no, that was a joke. I love you. My cock adores you."

"Well, I'm still terribly sorry for wearing your cock out last night. I'm just too excited." Ben chuckled as he whispered playfully. He licked Gwil's earlobe and slipped down back to his original position, mouth only inches away from the man's aching cock. "Do you mind if I apologize?"

Certainly not. Gwil nudged the Synth's lips with the head and let out an impatient moan. He just chuckled and slowly licked along the length while still maintaining eye contact, his green eyes now clouded and hooded with lust as he wrapped his hands around the base and nibbled at Gwil like Gwil was a five course meal and he was dying from starvation.

"Fuck." The man gasped and grabbed his hair as Ben teased him a little more by letting the weeping head slide against his cheek lovingly, making Gwil wanted to scream. His entire body was on fire like a volcano about to burst, but Ben didn't make enough friction and he was about to die. "Ben!"

"Yes, boyfriend?" The Synth batted his eyelashes, placing tiny kitten licks on the shaft, making blood bubbled in Gwil's veins. It was getting redder and redder, still rock hard, almost purpled with frustration and the tease. Gwil was so close, but Ben knew exactly when to stop to prevent him from coming. His thighs trembled.

"Is there any chance that you might really do something soon, love?" He groaned, and Ben grinned.

"Call me 'love' again." He pressed sloppy opened mouth kisses on the shaft, making stars danced in Gwil's vision.

"I always call--yes, love! Just do something!" Gwil was panting now. He had no idea if he hated, or if he loved seeing Ben being this cheeky and teasing. But he knew he loved the fact that Ben understood his body perfectly.

The Synth put the head into his mouth, covering Gwil with his wet warmth, making Gwil choked on his own breath, swirled his tongue around the head for a few times before letting it go with an obscene pop.

"What?!" Gwil could cry right then and there, because it felt so good, he couldn't think straight anymore, why did Ben stop? Why?

"Look at me." Ben's face and chest was flushing too, his glassy eyes stared at Gwil as his hands moved lazily at the base. "Don't look away."

Gwil snapped his gaze back to Ben as quickly as he could, drinking in the sight of the filthy angel before in, not daring to turn away for half a second. "Please, love. I prom--promise I won't look away…"

And then finally, finally Ben decided to give him what he wanted. The Synth opened his mouth and let Gwil in, carefully inch by inch, deeper and impossibly deeper in front of the man's shocked eyes before Ben was deepthroating him, not leaving anything out of his attention. Gwil let out a shaky moan, but didn't dare to close his eyes. The Synth's messy blond hair, flushed cheeks and stretched lips were making him shake with want as he gently pushed his hips, and Ben started to suck. He bobbed up and down the shaft, using his tongue to caress Gwil's flesh but not forgetting to graze over with his teeth once in a while, making his boyfriend wild with pleasure. The Synth's throat was so tight around him, the wet feelings of his tongue, the way his mouth had to stretch to keep Gwil in… His cock throbbed painfully inside that sinful mouth and desperate sounds fell out from him uncontrollably. Ben was never like this before, he was never this bold and fearless and just plainly gorgeous. God, he even made some breathless whimpers when Gwil pushed his hips deeper into his mouth, making Gwil's brain melt. Nothing else existed in his mind but Ben and the beautiful way he sucked his cock. 

And he was embarrassingly close. 

"Ben--I'm--coming--" Gwil blabbered between moans and frantic thrusts, pushing Ben's head. But the Synth didn't budge. He stared up at him with smouldering green eyes while hollowed his cheeks as hard as he could, and Gwil finished into his waiting mouth.

Gwil was too blissed out to get up from his spot despite Ben's chuckles, he just reached out his hands blindly to find the Synth, and quickly Ben slid into his arms, holding him back.

"What do you think?" He whispered, his voice low as he looked at Gwil through his eyelashes. "Was that...okay?"

It took him a moment to process the strange worry in his eyes. 

"What do you mean?" Gwil mumbled as he kissed Ben. "It was the hottest blowjob I've ever had in my life."

Ben smiled, looking genuinely surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah." Gwil nuzzled his nose into Ben's neck, making him giggle. "And you are the hottest boyfriend I've ever had in my life."

They lay there on Gwil's bed for a while, staring at each other lovingly, occasionally kissing and petting each other, feeling like they were the only ones in the world. Nothing else mattered outside of this bed. 

"It's 8:30. I have to go prepare breakfast." Ben whispered as they kissed chastely, and Gwil gripped his hips.

"I don't need to eat breakfast." His thumb traced lightly on Ben's flawless skin. "Let's just stay here."

"But your parents and daughter and best friend need breakfast." The Synth smiled apologetically as he got out of the bed. "I'll go feed them, and then I'll bring some here for you, yeah?"

Gwil thought about it for a second before getting up as well. "Well you're not my servant anymore, I have to go cook with you."

"Gwil, you know it's my duty to take care of you and…" Ben tried to reason, but he just shook his head and stood up, looking for his clothes. "We're boyfriends now, love. It means that I have to take care of you too."

After putting on the clothes, they got out of the room and headed to the kitchen. When they passed Reyna's bedroom, Gwil decided to peek in to check on the little girl, remembering last night. It must be horrible for her, seeing Alexa so hysterical. When he asked Joe about her, the man said she fell asleep, so he decided to talk to her later.

"Why don't you stay here with her for a bit and then wake her up for breakfast?" Ben suggested, eyes soft. "I can cook, I promise. Just let me do my job."

Gwil nodded. He got into the room and closed the door behind him. Reyna was still sleeping soundly, and he got closer to the bed to check on her. Her hair was messy, but her face was worse, dried tears and sweat were all over her cheeks as she curled into a ball next to her Teddy bear. It broke his heart to see her in such distress. At least she wasn't crying now, her face was relaxed in her sleep. Gwil sat down next to her and gently stroke her hair, thinking of what to say.

He knew he had to tell her about him and Ben. She would be thrilled to know that Ben would become her second Daddy. She always adored Ben. Maybe it would make her happier after being told that her mother would never be allowed to see her again. Gwil sighed. He knew how much Reyna loved her, but Alexa was too much sometimes. She gave Ben as a sign of peace, but she barged in accusing him of everything in the world like she was any better. If he wished to continue being with Ben, she had to leave. Get out of their lives for good.

"Reyna, sweetie?" He gently shook the little girl, waking her. "It's breakfast. Ben's making you some really delicious things, let's get up and find out!"

Reyna opened her eyes and smiled at Gwil. "Hi Daddy."

"Hello, sweetie." Gwil kissed her blotchy cheek and picked her up from the bed. The girl squirmed and giggled. "Let's clean you up so we can eat Ben's food. We have something so nice to tell you."

"Mommy's not mad at me anymore?" Her sleepy face brightened up, and guilt ate Gwil's insides as he shook his head.

"Honey, Mommy's never mad at you." He brought her into the bathroom to find a towel, and the girl insisted on cleaning up her face on her own. 

"But Mommy was very angry last night. Is Mommy angry that I choose to stay with you and not with her?" She pouted, eyes starting to water as Gwil quickly shushed her. 

"That's nonsense, sweetheart, who told you that?" Well, it was almost true, but the one she was mad at was Gwil.

"Charlie in my drawing class. He told me Mommy left because she hates you and she's angry because I love you more."

Gwil scoffed. Children were such assholes. Honestly, he had to go see this kid's parents when he had the time. "No, that's not true. She's mad at something else, but it's not important anymore, Reyna. She's really busy, so she won't be visiting you for a while."

"For how long?" 

Preferably never. But probably a few years until Reyna was old enough to understand how hysterical she was, and then the girl could decide for herself if she wanted to recontact or not. "I don't know, honey. She's really busy."

Reyna's gaze lowered as she turned back to brushing her teeth in silence. Gwil sighed. Seeing her sad was the most horrible thing in the world, and he just hated that.

"Hey, can I tell you the good news then?" He crouched down next to her. The girl nodded. "Ben is going to be your new Daddy. Your grandpas love Ben so much. He and I are going to be together from now on, like how I used to be with Mommy, and we'll love you ten times more than we already did."

Reyna's face brightened up as she started squealing and jumping up and down, giving Gwil heart attacks as he tried to stop her from slipping on the bathroom tiles. She sloppily washed the toothpaste from the corner of her mouth and bolted to the door, making Gwil chase behind her.

"Reyna, what are you doing?"

She didn't stop for a second.

"Papa!" Reyna squeaked as she ran to the dining table with Gwil in tow, where everyone was there - Brian, Roger, Joe, and Ben - and no one knew what was going on until she threw herself at Ben's legs like a bullet, almost knocking him out.

"Reyna!" Everyone exclaimed, and she just plastered herself on Ben's legs, hugging him so tightly.

"Papa!"

"What--what are you talking about, Reyna?" Ben's voice was wavering now. He picked the girl up in his arms and looked at her. She was smiling so big it felt like the room could lighten up. 

"You're my new Papa!" She giggled and hugged Ben's neck. Ben froze in his spot. "I love you so much, papa." 

Ben didn't say anything. He just stood there with the girl in his arms, and Gwil was almost scared that he didn't want it. Until he quickly raised a finger to wipe at the corner of his eyes and gave her a big hug back. From behind them, Brian and Roger were holding each other's hands, smiling. Joe's eyes were twinkling mischievously. 

"Papa loves you too." Ben kissed her hair, feeling like his life was complete.


	22. New beginning

"I'm so proud of you, Rog." Brian whispered between their small kiss, making Roger's eyes widen a little.

"Why?" He asked, not really sure where that came from, and his husband just shook his head, holding him closer. 

"Nothing, just--I'm glad you can let go of your anger." The man glanced at where his son was sitting, laughing and waving his hands around dramatically as he described something to Ben, who was savoring up every word like he hung the moon. "Gwil is really happy, thanks to that."

"It's my responsibility to make my son happy, I shouldn't be thanked for that." Roger sighed, tucking a silver curl behind Brian's ears gently. "I should never have been so harsh on him and Ben in the first place."

"You wouldn't be the same Roger I know if you weren't harsh." Brian chuckled, hazel eyes sparkling. "That's why we're together, Rog. So I can calm down your fire, and you can give me some of that fire. It's balanced."

"Hmmm." Roger narrowed his eyes jokingly as they shared another chaste kiss. In other families, adults would avoid kissing in front of the children to "protect their innocence", but it was different in their family. Roger and Brian never hid how they expressed their affection through kisses, caresses and loving touches, of course they always keep it chaste with Gwil, and the little baby boy grew up just fine. In fact, he grew up into a sweet, kind and loving man, and they could never be more proud. And just like that, Gwil didn't bother to hide his kisses with Ben from Reyna. It was a sign of love and trust. It used to make Gwil believe that he had loving parents who always try to keep his family together, and now it made Reyna feel the same thing. Protected. Safe.

"What do you think about that Allen bloke?" Brian suddenly asked, voice low so Joe couldn't hear them. Joe was the only adult in the room still watching the TV with Reyna, and even when he seemed fine, they knew that he would rather have someone else here with him.

"Well, he seems nice at breakfast." Roger furrowed his eyebrows. "But that's not guaranteed."

Joe was their son's best friend, and they considered him one of their own. So it was just natural that they paid attention to who he was dating as well. And that Allen's unexpected presence this morning surprised them all. Well, except for Ben, of course, because he had a connection to the house's security system. He got distracted a bit from Reyna calling him papa for the first time, but after that, he gently and (fake) innocently asked Joe if he wanted to ask Allen to come out and have breakfast with them. Roger and Brian had no idea who Allen was, Gwil was shocked that the man was in the house without him knowing it, and Joe drowned in embarrassment. 

_Allen Leech is one of Gwil and Joe's colleagues and he's currently in a relationship with Joe._ Ben informed them as he brought the breakfast to them. _Last night, he had a date with Joe, but Joe had to stay home with Reyna, so he came here himself and snuck in through the window._

Joe's face was bright red as Ben announced his little rendezvous with a pretended emotionless face, and Gwil was snickering behind him. At the end, Brian finally had some sympathy for the poor boy and saved him by asking him to come and get Allen out. Next to him, Roger was laughing as well, and they had breakfast with two tomatoes on the other side of the table.

_ Seriously, Joe, I'm one of the newest bodyguard model. Do you really think anyone can get in or out of this house without me knowing? I let him in because he means no harm. But if some thieves decided to break in, I'll rip them to shreds. _

Gwil's longing stare at Ben after that sentence was full of awe, admiration, love and horniness.

"I don't know, we'll just have to wait to find out if he's the right one." Brian shrugged. "But it's still nice to know that Joe also found someone. Wow, I can't believe it, our babies are all grown up."

Roger stared at him. "Brian, Gwil was married and had a child. Babies? Seriously?"

"Still." Brian pouted, and the other man laughed as he kissed him. As if they were so young, back when Freddie was still cooing at them for being a sickenly sweet couple and John was still grinning at them with sparkly eyes. Their little family was growing larger and larger, with Ben and maybe Allen and so many more, but sometimes they wished Freddie and John would be here to see that.

.

.

.

  
  


"Have a safe flight." Gwil whispered as he hugged Brian tightly in his arms, and when they let go, Roger was already set, urging his husband to stop being a sap and get on with their next trip. Their next tour, their next performances, their passion.

Gwil sometimes wondered what it was like to have a life in the limelight like them, but then, it wasn't something for him. His parents were gods on stage, but he'd rather have a quiet, peaceful life with the one he loved. And right now, when they were on their way to continue their dream together, he would also come home to his dream come true.

"We'll send you postcard on our way there." Brian smiled, and waved goodbye for the last time as he followed Roger into their jet. Private jet, of course. They were rock stars, after all.

"Love you, Dads!" 

"Love you, Grandpas!"

"It was our pleasure to welcome you, Brian and Roger."

And then they were gone. And Gwil turned around to pull Ben into a kiss. The Synth returned the kiss with a shy smile.

"What was that for?" 

"For finally having the house for ourselves." The man took his hand and Reyna's as they walked over to the car. 

"You're shooing Joe back home?" Ben smirked, thinking about the incident, and Gwil chuckled.

"He's probably in his own place cuddling with Allen right now. Now that my hand's a lot better and he has a new hot boyfriend, I'm the least of his concern."

"Aw, don't sound so sad." Ben bit his lip in a grin. "You also have a new hot boyfriend. If you want cuddles, you just need to ask."

After dropping Brian and Roger at the airport, the two drove Reyna to school before heading to the lab to start the day. It was something Ben was really excited for without saying out loud: he couldn't wait to see Reyna's school and classmates. He had spent his entire time staying inside while letting Gwil going to work and taking the little girl to school. Now that they were finally official, there was nothing he wanted more than to know Gwil and Reyna better. The man didn't seem to care about holding hands and kissing a Synthetic in public. It made Ben's cheeks warm with a nameless lovely feeling.

The school was crowded - it was the first time Ben saw with his own eyes so many children in one place, it was swarmed with a thousand little Reynas, and he had to hold her hand tighter to make sure he didn't lose her. Gwil said he had some business with Reyna's teacher, so he went to look for her first, letting Ben taking Reyna inside. Technically, she was old enough to get into her class on her own, but she was so thrilled about having a new cool Synthetic papa she insisted on having him there. Ben couldn't help smiling at the girl's sparkling eyes when she went on and on about how she would show him off to all of her friends. 

"Charlie always makes fun of me because my parents are not together." Reyna sighed a little when they approached her classroom, making Ben halted. God. "He says my Daddy and Mommy don't love me anymore."

"Reyna, you know it's not true." Ben stroke her hand, cursing the child in his head. What kind of education produces such a cruel kid?

"I don't know, Papa. He might be right." She shrugged, and it broke his heart. "But he doesn't know that I have you."

She looked up at him with a bright smile, making it impossible for him not to smile despite his inner anger.

"He doesn't know that you and Daddy are together, and he doesn't know that you love me." She chirped, pulling him through the threshold. "I'll teach him a lesson."

Ben was about to ask what she was planning to do before a kid suddenly got closer from the other side of the room, with some others following him like a wolf pack, and Ben knew this kid wasn't normal. He was twice the size of Reyna, and he looked aggressive.

"Charlie!" The girl yelled, and that kid crossed his arms, glaring at her.

"What's the matter, divorced Reyna?" God, this child's name calling was getting on his nerves, and Ben didn't even have nerves. It was horrible, and the name was just as annoying. 

"Stop calling me that." The girl said calmly as she gestured at Ben, who was still clueless about what he should do. Gwil only told him to bring her to class! "I have a new Papa now. My Daddy and my Papa are together and they love me."

The Charlie kid wheezed in laughter with his friends, and Reyna's face started to get red with frustration.

"What? That's a robot!" Charlie howled in laughter. "We have the same one at home! You're calling it papa?"

"He's not like other Synthetics." The girl explained, but the kids stayed stubborn. "He has feelings like us. And he's with my Daddy."

"I can't believe it." One of Charlie's friends said. "Her Dad is insane! Reyna's insane! She's making it up!"

"I'm not insane, and I'm not making it up." Reyna scoffed. "You're just too dumb to look beyond your narrow, shallow and miserable horizon."

Ben snickered. The kids seemed to be in shock with Reyna's vocabulary, and he knew Gwil definitely rubbed off on her with his nerd dictionary.

"She called you dumb." One kid told Charlie, and he glared at her again.

"You and your Dad are just crazy, so you imagine that a robot can have feelings." He rolled his eyes. "That's because your Mom left you and you are not normal. Crazy Reyna!"

The rest of the kids started chanting after him like some kind of evil cult, and Charlie jumped towards Ben, kicking his leg, laughing.

"Dumb Synth!" He yelled when Ben didn't flinch away or move at all after that kick. The Synth stared down at him, wondering what the heck was wrong with this child. "He's just a pile of trash, Reyna! My robot is even better!"

The small crowd gathering around them roared in laughter, and after Charlie did everything he could with Ben, the Synth let put a long sigh and grabbed his collar, lifting him up.

All of the kids went silent.

Ben tilted his head slightly, looking at Charlie's terrified eyes.

"So you're the one messing with Reyna lately, Charlie." He growled, and the kids started to cower in fear. Charlie was frozen. "Now I would spank you, but clearly it's not my place to teach you, it's your parents, so remember this."

He walked over the nearest desk, the kids parting from his path like water, and he brought Charlie closer to look before slamming his other fist down the surface, and cracking it open. The whole classroom gasped as the wood broke with a loud crack and the desk was almost broken in half.

"I love Reyna more than anything." He told the entire class, ignoring their wide eyes. "And if anyone dares to make fun of her, or calling her names again - I'm sure that your parents won't be able to save you from me. Remember that, Charlie."

He put the child down, leaning down to kiss Reyna goodbye before leaving the classroom. Even after he left, the whole room was still dead silent. Charlie was curling up on the floor in fear.

"Ben, what took you so long?" Gwil asked when the Synth got into the car, and Ben shrugged.

"There's this kid that keeps harassing Reyna in class, so I gave him a warning." He said as they kissed gently and Gwil started to drive.

"What did you do?" The man narrowed his eyes at him with a curious smirk.

"I broke a desk with my bare hands." Ben said nonchalantly, and Gwil burst into laughter.

"God, you must have scared the kid to death. I already met with their teacher to tell her to keep an eye on Reyna, there's no need to be so harsh."

"That kid said you and Reyna are insane for loving me. I'm just a dumb Synth, after all." Ben batted his eyelashes.

"He really said that?"

"Yep."

Gwil thought for a minute, before pulling his phone out.

"Who are you calling?"

"The principle. That kid's being expelled."


	23. We did it

"On the scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being completely painless and 10 being unbearable pain, how are your hands feeling right now?" Ben gently swiped over the mostly healed wounds with a cotton but damped in antiseptic, his movement slow and careful.

"10/10 is how much I want to kiss you right now." Gwil smirked as he wiggled his fingers, making Ben smile, shaking his head.

"I have to send in the evaluation to your doctor, Gwil. Do you really want me to tell him that?"

"What? No." Gwil moved closer, wrapping his arms around Ben's waist without touching his hands on anywhere. "I just want to kiss you, love."

Ben leaned in to brush his lips against Gwil's, hands keeping the man's wrists to stop him from batting his injured hands on something. The sweet gesture made Gwil's heart melted in his chest as he deepened their kiss. He slowly and gently poured all of the love and affection into it, trying to make Ben get it. Get how much he cared for the Synth, and how grateful he was to have him in his life.

"But seriously, Gwil, are you hurt?" Ben said when they split, eyeing him with concern. They came back with Ben holding Gwil's hands in between them. "Everything looks good now, you are almost fully healed, but if anything hurts more than it should, I have to report it. It could be dangerous."

"No, love, nothing hurts more than it should." Gwil smiled, shaking his head. Even he could see how fast his hands were getting better under the care of a very concerned mother hen whose name was Benjamin Lee, and there was nothing more exciting than that. He could finally go back to brushing his own teeth and cutting his own food again, and having sex without worrying again. To be honest, he'd still wanting to have Ben tying his hands above his head and ride him out of his mind, but that's not the point. He could actually do something - helping Ben with cooking and with the work in the lab instead of yelling whenever the water boiled so Ben could come over and handle things.

"Good. Because this is the last report." The Synth raised Gwil's hands to his lips to kiss the newly grown patch of skin lightly.

"All thanks to the wonderful Synthetic who pampered me to recover." Gwil caressed Ben's cheek with his palm, whispering. "I wouldn't know what to do without you, love."

"I'm just planning the best diets for your body to heal as quickly as possible." Ben put away the medical kit. "It's your poor old man body that had to do all the work."

"Oh, you're saying I'm old now, one-year-old baby?" Gwil laughed as he stood up to follow Ben. They got into the living room to lay down on the sofa, and Ben snuggled up in Gwil's lap, enjoying the peaceful feelings.

It had been a while since all of the drama with Roger and Brian came to an end and they officially became a couple with nothing to hide. And the feeling was still just as incredible as the first hours of it. They were in, as Roger phrased it, the honeymoon phase, and Gwil wanted to savour it as much as possible. He didn't want to hide his feelings anymore. He wanted to tell Ben out loud how much he loved him every time he felt it, and showed it to Ben every way he knew how. He wanted to give Reyna the thing she didn't have before with him and Alexa: two parents who were in love with each other, and who loved her.

Their recent times had been like a dream to him, and he didn't want to wake up, ever. He got to spend time with Ben every second of the day: in the lab, picking Reyna from school, having dinner, laying on the bed together, steamy hot sex, everything was making way for the two of them to be together, and Gwil didn't get tired of it for a bit.

"You know that eventually, this phase will pass, right?" Ben looked up at him, transparent green eyes big and sweet. They were watching some random movies that Gwil couldn't care less because he was too busy ogling his Synthetic gift from God.

"What will pass?" He raised an eyebrow, and Ben touched his cheek.

"The honeymoon phase. That's what every couple goes through. You will start to get used to me, to understand me, and very soon, you will be slightly bored of me." Gwil opened his mouth to protest, but Ben didn't let him. "Let me finish. You will see that I'm no longer mysterious, and I don't have anything for you to discover anymore. That's when most couples give up."

"But we're not most couples, Ben."

"I know. I used to think real love means there was no hardship at all, and you will continue to love me and I will continue to love you like this until we both die." The Synth kissed his neck. "But the truth is, real love means we come across so many hardships on the way and end up overcoming them all. And then we will get to the phase when we become soulmates. No burning passion, but love runs deep. I can't wait to do that with you."

"I'd love to do that with you too." Gwil tilted Ben's chin up to kiss on his lips, pulling him closer. 

.

.

.

"Wow, this is...wow." Allen looked around the lab, eyeing everything with awe. "I can't believe it, this is where you work?"

Joe chuckled, pulling his hand. They walked across the lab where he and Gwil worked everyday, Joe had to lead the way or Allen would be totally lost in the brightness and all of the gadgets they had laying around. "Why, is it so strange to see an awesome scientist working in an awesome lab?"

Allen waved his hands at the giant computers and machines, gaping. "You're just chemists! Why do you need these?"

"Because there are a lot of things about chemistry that needs more than just glass bottles and you know it." Joe rolled his eyes, pulling out a chair to sit on. 

Allen let out a huff and got closer, putting his hands around Joe's waist. Their gazes locked as both of them leaning closer, and Joe whispered.

"It's against the safety rules of the lab to kiss in here, Allen. I know I'm irresistible, but keep it in your pants." He smirked, pretended to push the other man away, but there was no real force in it. Allen just laughed and gave him a tight hug.

"It's fine, I'll get plenty of kisses tonight. In fact, I'll spend the whole night kissing you."

When he pulled back to look at Joe's eyes, he seemed surprised to see the man's frown. He tried to regain their eye contact, but Joe's gaze fell down. 

"Hey, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"Allen, do you…" He swallowed, not knowing how to phrase it. "Do you ever wonder why I'm not ready to get to the third base with you?"

"Well, sure." Allen shrugged. "But it's not my concern, Joe. I want to have a serious relationship with you. I don't need to start with sex."

"So it's okay if we take it slow for some more time?" Joe bit his lip. "It's okay if we spent all night kissing and cuddling?"

"We already did that a hundred times now, didn't we?" Allen smiled, putting a hand on Joe's cheek. "We'll do that when you're comfortable of telling me what stopped you, and when you trust me enough."

"I--I don't mean that I don't trust you, Allen--"

"I'm not offended. Really." The man shook his head. "Trust is something we have to earn. And I'm willing to spend time earning it."

Joe nodded, eyes slightly watery at the words, but he quickly shrugged it away to plant a quick peck on Allen's lips. "I'll break the rules just once."

The other man just laughed and hugged him. After the embarrassing encounter with Gwil, Ben and Gwil's parents the other morning, Joe decided to finally move back to his place. But he still hadn't taken Allen there. He preferred to stay at Allen's house, and instead, taking him somewhere even more important to him. His lab. The place where he had poured his heart and soul into his projects, where he failed and failed so many times but still managed to get up, and where he stayed in even more than his own house. It was easier to stay in all night working on the chemicals and experiments when he didn't have a daughter or a boyfriend waiting back home. 

"Can I ask you something about the other morning?" Allen asked, and Joe knew he was trying to sound casual instead of blushing the whole way. It was weird. They didn't do anything. They didn't have sex, and Allen wasn't caught being naked hiding in the closet, but all of them looked at them like they knew, and it made the whole thing ten times more awkward.

"Yeah?" Joe started to put on his coat and goggles.

"Ben wasn't acting like the Synthetics I see normally." Allen narrowed his eyes a little. "He smiled and laughed and acted like… I don't know, he acted kinda like us. Without anyone asking, a Synth would never laugh, or make a joke. And even then, they would never act so natural. Is there something about Ben that, you know…?"

"Actually it's--not my place to tell." Joe sighed, putting on his gloves. "But let's just say that Ben's not like any other Synths. He's...special."

"Special how?" Allen moved closer in curiosity, and Joe shrugged.

"You already said how. He smiled and laughed and joked without being told. Isn't that special enough?"

"But there are so many thing else." Allen couldn't stop asking. "How could he do that? And what else does he do that's unlike other Synths? Does he purposely do that because he was programmed or that's how he--"

"Allen." Joe stared at him sternly. "It's none of our business. It's Gwil. And Ben's making him happy, so we're not talking about this topic anymore, alright?"

Allen backed away immediately, holding his hands up defensively. "I didn't mean to anger you, I'm just curious. Sorry."

"It's fine." Joe shook his head dismissively, and the door of the lab suddenly opened when Ben and Gwil came in, hands linked together like a couple of teenagers. They were laughing at something, probably silly, and God, Joe was just so mad and so happy for them. They were absolutely and ridiculously in love.

"Hey, loser." Joe greeted, and Gwil grinned at him.

"Hey, asshole." He turned to look at Allen. "Oh wow, hi Troy Bolton. Be careful the next time you climb into Gabriella's balcony, okay?"

Allen just rolled his eyes as Ben laughed.

"Well, Troy Bolton has to go back to his old, tiny broom closet of a lab now. See you soon." He stood up, placing another kiss on Joe's cheek before heading to the door and waved goodbye. The others waved back before they started to get back to work.

They went on with their tests and experiments, picking up from yesterday, and Joe noticed how Gwil could do something by himself with his hands today. It was a great sign, and a sweet sight to see Ben still being protective over his boyfriend. They worked together on the results, so Joe decided to sit down on one of the computers to put in the numbers they gave him, and ran it by the softwares to see if he could get the right frequentcy when electricity got through their solvent. It took a while, so after a few hours, he left it there to go get his lunch.

When Joe came back, out of nowhere, Gwil screamed and jumped over to hug him.

"What are you doing?"

"The frequency lined up, Joe!" Gwil was buzzing with excitement as he grinned from ear to ear. 

"Does that mean…" Joe's eyes widened. "Oh my God, it finally _worked_?!"

"Yes!" Gwil laughed, and they burst into laughter. Good God, finally. It took them so long.


	24. Dreams

Joe blinked rapidly as he sat up from the bed. "Are you serious?"

"I thought you deserve it." Allen stared at him nervously. "You've been working so hard and now you can finally have a break. Is it a bad thing?"

"No, no, of course not." Joe shook his head and placed a kiss on the other man's lips. They were lying on his bed, tangled in the blankets, all warmed and content when suddenly Allen told him that he booked them a trip to Argentina for a whole month. "It surprised me, that's all. I just--didn't expect it."

"And I want to have more time to know you too. I already handed in my sick leave." Allen cupped Joe's cheeks, eyes pleading. "Come on, Joe. It may sounds a lot, but Gwil told me you haven't taken a day off for six years. You need a break."

"Allen…" Joe sighed, lying back down to snuggle against the man. "Gwil and I just figured out the right formula for the solvent we've been working on. I'm exhausted."

"That's why some time away from the lab would be better for you. I went there a few times, Joe. It's amazing. You'll love it." Allen smiled at him. "And I also want us to have some time alone with each other. No work, no boss, just us."

Joe didn't give him an answer. He swallowed thickly, not knowing what to say. Deep down, he knew he wanted this more than anything. It was ages since he had a break from work, because it was ages since he last had something other than work. Like it or not, his love life was just as troubled as Gwil's, he was just luckier because he didn't have a crazy ex wife who lurks around the corner all the time. When he looked into Allen's eyes, he saw how much this man wanted this. Heck, he spent his own pocket money to book the whole trip for the two of them. He was such a hopeless romantic Joe fucking loved him so much. 

They were on the next level of relationship, and Allen clearly wanted to use this time to get to know Joe. He wished to see more of Allen too, and this was a perfect opportunity. But leaving everything behind for a month… He had never been absent for so long. How would Gwil and Reyna live without him?

"Okay, now Gwil is a grown man." Allen chuckled. "He can handle himself and his daughter for a month. And come on, Ben is always there. He takes care of Gwil and Reyna since the day he came, I'm sure he still does when you go on a holiday. Nothing's wrong with having a break after hard work."

Joe bit his lip. "...What did Colewell say?" 

"He said I'm free to take you to the moon, because you've just made him ten times richer than he already was." Allen grinned, and Joe laughed as he surged in for another kiss. His insides were still tingling with the memories of finally closing the case. This project stretched out for so long he almost forgot that they could end it. This thing could turn their product around, making a difference. And Joe sure as hell would have a better salary and laboratory after this.

"Alright." He smiled, stroking Allen's dark hair, smiling sheepishly. It was dim inside their bedroom, only a few rays of sunshine could get in to dance on Allen's hair, making golding in Joe's fingers, but it was enough to make his heart flutter. 

No one has ever… Well, many of his exes did things like this, but not this sincerely. Not with the sole purpose to simply enjoy the alone time with him. They always wanted something, but Allen… Allen didn't seem to want anything other than Joe's company. 

"Yes!" Allen laughed out loud, the sound cheerful and almost childish. He immediately got up from the bed and pulled at Joe's hands. "Come on, we need to pack. I'm booking this afternoon's flight. You have no idea how gorgeous that place is, I never knew Argentina was so beautiful until…"

Joe just laughed and followed the man to pick up the clothes from his wardrobe, nodding when Allen babbled about all the fun things the last time he was there. The guilt about not trusting Allen enough to go further suddenly surged up in his heart, but Joe pushed the thoughts away. Allen said he could take the time, and he had just agreed to go on a holiday alone with Allen. They were getting there. Just a little more slowly than other couples.

.  
.  
.

"Oh, I can't believe it, they're going on a romantic trip together." Gwil grinned as he showed Ben the text from Joe when they finally finished cleaning themselves up from the shower and got to bed. The Synth craned his neck to read and chuckled at himself.

"Allen is bold. Joe likes that about him." 

"Do you want to do something like this one day?" Gwil asked, climbing into bed and patted the spot next to him. The Synth snuck in, still smiling.

"You can't be away from the lab at the same time, you know that, right?" Ben held his hands under the covers, the other reaching for the charging cable.

"Well, I did say one day." Gwil kissed his jaw, taking in his scent. He knew it was just the scent of silicone and plastic, but it was still Ben's, and it made his heart calm. "We can wait til Joe come back and then I can book us to some paradise and we can actually have a honeymoon."

"I'm sure it'll be easy." Ben rubbed his cheek against Gwil's neck like a cat asking to be pet, his eyes falling shut in content. "You are going to make Colewell Industry billions with your work. Colewell has to let you have a holiday you deserve."

"I'll let Joe take care of Reyna when we're having sex on the beach." Gwil narrowed his eyes and whispered into Ben's ears, making him swat him on the shoulders.

"Don't say that!"

"Please, stop acting like you're so innocent." Gwil laughed and bit his earlobe gently. "As if you haven't been doing all sorts of dirty things to me ten minutes ago. But don't stop, ever, yeah? Because I just love it when you kneel down and put my c--"

"Okay I just realized I forgot to read Reyna some very innocent bedtime stories--" Ben cut in, jumping out of the bed, making Gwil bend over in laughter.

"Come on, there's only us. You didn't seem so shy when we were in the shower."

"But you didn't put Reyna's name in the same sentence that you mention us having sex, Gwil." Ben groaned. "I'm so going to read Reyna bedtime stories."

"Okay, I'm coming with you then." Gwil moved to sit up, but Ben shook his head.

"You need to have the presentation with Colewell tomorrow about the new solvent. You need your beauty sleep." The Synth kissed on his forehead. "Just go on, I'll be back in a minute."

Gwil thought about it before nodding and lay back down. He made sure to move aside to leave Ben some space when he got back, because Gwil had the tendency to be a starfish in his sleep, and pulled the covers over. He watched Ben's back as the Synth left, insides tingling with the sex after glow and the burning love inside of him. Everything was going in the right direction. His family was falling into place. Ben was here with him, Reyna was happy, Joe finally had somebody to love, his parents had given him their blessings, and he took a huge step at work. Promotion was on the way.

Gwil knew his fathers were crazy rich and they had enough money to provide for tens of him for the rest of their lives, but Gwil made an effort to never ask for their help unless it was necessary. He made a name for himself in the field that he took, and he worked hard. Being able to take care of his little family with his own career was something he had always been proud of, and this new project was only going to make him more successful. Reyna could grow up having a smart father, and he could fulfill the role model in her heart, because everybody knew that now, he was obviously the little girl's world, but when she grew up, he would have to try harder.

With the thought of having a beautiful family, Gwil slowly fell asleep, into the land of the dreams. 

He was standing in the back, next to a beautiful young woman. He was so excited to be in her wedding with the man she loved. He had never seen a more gorgeous bride, she had his height, his blue eyes and long wavy brown hair, she was wearing a perfect mermaid dress and she was smiling so bright his heart seized in happiness. It was… It was Reyna. She was twenty six now, all grown up and strong and amazing... The time came, she held onto his arm and he carefully led his daughter down the aisle in the admiration and love from all of the guests. Gwil let her go so she could hold her fiance's hands, and the man, his future son in law, looked at her like she was all the moon and stars in the sky. It reminded him of the way that… Gwil couldn't remember. The way that someone looked at him. Someone so important…

"Ladies and gentlemen," Joe was the one marrying them, of course. Why would anyone else have the honor? "We're here today to witness the best moment in this young couple's life. And probably my life, and Gwil's life as well. After all, we raised her together since she was a baby."

Gwil looked down the benches of the church, trying to recognize the guests. He knew them. They were his parents, his relatives, Reyna's friends and colleagues… But someone was missing. He closed his eyes, trying to remember. 

"It was hard for a man to be a single father all of those years." Joe looked at him, eyes soft with happy tears. "And to be honest, I have my own family to look after, so I couldn't be there for him all the way. But I'm glad that even when he went through most of the hardship alone, he still managed to raise such a kind, smart and beautiful young woman."

Alone. He was a single father to Reyna until she grew up. Alexa wasn't there. No one else was there but Joe…? It didn't feel right.

"And today, she's getting married to another kind, smart and handsome man that she loves and loves her back just as much." Joe turned to the bride and groom, holding their hands. "I… I hope that you two will always be together, always take care and be faithful to each other, and prove that even though your father's unlucky when it comes to love... Good people can still have true love."

Gwil was unlucky. He didn't...have true love. He blinked, looking around. Joe said he didn't have true love, but...but he did. He did have someone he loved, who was there to take care of Reyna with him, who should be here, in their daughter's wedding as well. Where is he? Why isn't he here? Where is he? Where is--

"Ben!" 

Gwil sat up abruptly on his bed panting, sweat running down his back. He was lying on his own bed, and when he turned to see if Ben was there, he saw nothing. Everything in front of him swayed with panic. He… He forgot about Ben. Ben wasn't in his dreams, and now Ben wasn't in his bed, either. He tried to calm himself, that there was no way that the dream would come true or some sort of sign, no, he was just stressed out from work. Gwil quickly stood up from the bed to look for Ben. The Synth left to read Reyna some bedtime stories, but it was hours since Gwil fell asleep. He must be in the kitchen doing something…

Gwil creaked open Reyna's door to look inside. The little girl was fast asleep in her blanket. The was a chair next to the bed, and a children book lying opened on it. Gwil decided to just get to the kitchen, quietly calling out for Ben. He couldn't wait to tell his boyfriend about the silly dream and hold him in his arms.

"Ben! Are you there?" He opened the door, but the kitchen was empty. He started going to every room, searching for his love, but the entire house was empty save for him and Reyna. The more he looked, the more terrified he became. There was no way…

The house was empty like Ben had never been here at all. He wandered around, looking inside every wardrobe and even the washing machine, but there was no trace of him. Only when Gwil returned to his bedroom did he notice the charging cable still plugged into the socket, and he finally calmed down. No, this isn't a fantasy world, where he woke up one day and Ben disappeared completely from the face of the Earth. No, Ben was still here. He maybe just got out for something and didn't want to wake Gwil. 

He sat down on the bed, sighing as he rubbed his forehead. Just a dream and he was so paranoid he imagined something like that would happen. God, he must be dead tired. It was just… He was scared. It had been such a long time since he had everything like this, and in his experience, whenever he had it all, someone or something would come and take it all away. Whenever he looked at Ben, he was worried that someday Persona would barge in and bring him away to fix and replace him with a Synth. A real Synth.

Gwil was out of his mind. 

He sat there, calming down for a moment, before standing up and got to his working desk. He wouldn't be able to sleep anymore. Maybe he should spend some time to revise the presentation so in the morning, he could deliver it to Colewell and the board of directors in the company. When Ben got back, he could ask the reason later. Right now, he needed to do something to get his mind off Ben.

His laptop wasn't there. Gwil started opening all of the drawers and looked into the bags, but his laptop… The one that he stored information about the solvent for his project, was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the mess, to doo doo doo  
> Here comes the mess, and I say  
> It's alright


	25. Work

"Come on Joe, you've been staring at your phone the whole afternoon. Are you going to ignore me till the rest of the day?" Allen sighed and kissed Joe's cheek as he checked his phone for the five hundredth time that day. Joe also sighed.

"I'm sorry." He stuffed the phone back into his pocket and continued to walk. They were going sightseeing, just to know about the beauty of the place and spend some romantic time, but Joe was too distracted. There was a problem with the Internet and phone signal where they were staying, and even though Allen considered it a chance to be completely separated from the world of work, Joe was desperate to find a way to contact back home. "I just want to know how Gwil's doing with the presentation without me. And Reyna and Ben too."

"Hey, I promise you, nothing bad's going to happen. Gwil's a genius, he can handle that. Just relax." Allen reassured him, hands gently rubbed circles on his back, and Joe nodded. He decided to just shove the worry away and focus on the trip. It had been ages since he had a real vacation, and now he was spending it with his new boyfriend. 

He had never been to Argentina before, but he had to say, Allen was right. It was really beautiful and fun. They travelled to all sorts of impressive views, tasted the local food and talked to the natives. He got to know so much more about Allen, how incredibly funny, but extremely gentle and kind he was. Unlike all of the people Joe dated before, he seemed to care more than Joe expected. And he must also be patient and forgiving to let Joe check his phone every five minutes without being mad.

"Tell me about your family, Joe?" Allen suddenly asked. Joe had already asked the man about his family, and he told Joe everything from his mother, father to his sister. It created a special link between them, making them as close as ever.

"Oh, let's just say Gwil and Reyna are my family. Now Ben too. They, and Gwil's rockstar dads." Joe kicked a pebble with his feet. He smiled. "My biological parents passed away since I was little, so Brian and Roger, Gwil's dads, paid my tuition and gave me a roof over my head. We are best friends. I've never had someone like him in my life. I mean, of course I gave them the money back, but they didn't care. They truly wanted to help without anything in return, and I'm really lucky to have them."

"That's amazing, Joe." Allen smiled. "I'm so glad you have a family that loves you."

"Yeah, well, if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friend and his daughter and his Synth and his parents." Joe grinned, and Allen burst into laughter.

"Of course. I'd love to have dinner with them someday, just to know what I've gotten myself into." 

"That's a good idea." Joe giggled, and Allen looked at him.

"So you've been working with Gwil for--how long now?" He asked, something like nervousness took over his expressions, and Joe looked at him.

"Almost ten years. Why? Something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Allen shook his head. He squeezed Joe's hand in his. "It's just--Can I tell you something that sounds a little creepy?"

"What?" Joe laughed, and Allen smiled.

"I've been admiring the way you work for a while. Not just this project, but many thing else. I mean, Gwil is a doctor, but I just love the way that you think. I don't think I can see the opportunities and possibilities that you did if I were you." He looked down at their joined hands. "I just wish that I have a chance to work with you."

"You just want my fancy lab. I know I'm incredible, but that doesn't sound right." Joe rolled his eyes playfully, but held his hand back anyway. 

"No, I mean it." Allen shook his head. It was ridiculous how they could only talk about work, even when they were miles away from the lab, trying to relax. "I also want to spend more time with you."

They continued to walk for another minute before Joe looked up at Allen. "Well… I guess I can make that happen."

The other man's face brightened up as he grinned and kissed Joe messily. He could just laugh into the kiss. 

"Alright, alright, now move aside so I can buy some souvenirs for Reyna. I see a stall over there." Joe pulled his hand, and Allen followed him, still looking giddy. "I also need to pick something for your sister."

.  
.  
.

"Daddy!" It was only when Reyna shouted that Gwil finally looked up from his tablet, eyes wild with fear.

"Yes, sweetie?" He cleared his voice, pushing the thing away to look at her. She was picking at her scrambled eggs with a frown.

"Where's Papa?"

"He's…" He swallowed, not used to lying to her. To be honest, it was difficult for him to even put words into sentences right now. "He's out for the groceries, Reyna. We're out of food for the next week."

"He just took me to the supermarket yesterday." The girl sighed, pouting as if she was about to cry. "What took him so long?"

"What's the matter, sweetheart, isn't my scrambled egg good enough?" Gwil tried to avoid answering the question by giving her a small smile, and she pouted harder.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. I love your scrambled egg." She took a bite, but it was too small for a normal bite. "But Papa always makes breakfast for me and give me a hug. I miss him."

Gwil immediately left his spot to get to hers and embraced her tiny figure, sighing as well. He wondered if Reyna noticed how horrifyingly fast his heart was pounding right now as she hugged him back. He was rolling down a spiral of fear, lost and confusion - and the last thing he wanted was to let Reyna know it. 

"He's just out for a while, alright?" Gwil kissed her hair. "I'll tell him to hug you when he comes back from the store. Now finish your breakfast so I can take you to school."

"Okay, Daddy." She continued with the breakfast, looking a little less upset. Gwil couldn't do it like her. No. He couldn't swallow even a gulp of apple juice with the swarming thoughts about Ben and his presentation in his head. He didn't know what to do, he had panicked non stop since the moment he found out his laptop was missing. 

Gwil didn't know if Ben's disappearance had anything to do with the laptop, and why it happened. The security camera in the front porch didn't do its job - it was somehow broken ever since last night, which was too much for a coincidence. Maybe Ben was kidnapped and the kidnapper had destroyed the camera before that. Maybe some thieves got in and when Ben found out, they took him down as well. But Jesus, Ben wasn't a human. He was a Synth, and he was specially designed to engage in physical combats without struggle. Anyone who could go past him couldn't do it so fast and quietly that Gwil had no idea. Gwil tried locating the GPS chip in Ben's system to to look for him, but there was no trace of it. And why his laptop anyway? There wasn't much things to do with it - all of the important research was stored in the lab for safety. Taking away his laptop couldn't help them with anything. He locked up his bank account, email and everything important. Sure, he might have lost his powerpoint presentation for the project, but it was just a speech. He could do that on his own.

Gwil checked his phone again to see if Joe had called him back yet - but still no answer. He had called Joe for a thousand times, but his best friend didn't pick up at all. He even texted Joe on all sorts of media he had, but it was like Joe didn't have the Internet or phone signal where he was. It frightened Gwil more than he could say. Joe had always been supporting him. Now, when Ben vanished, Gwil didn't only had no one to lean on, but he was scared that something might happen to Joe as well. He sighed and shut his eyes, trying not to panic even more. His heart never stop pounding.

Gwil wondered if he should contact the police about Ben. But then… Ben was just a Synth. He was considered an object. And he hadn't been gone for twenty four hours, so they wouldn't help him. It left him with nothing to do but wait and imagine all kinds of horrible scenarios in his head.

"Aren't you eating, Daddy?" Reyna poked his arm, and Gwil snapped out of it for a second.

"I've had enough. There's no need to worry about me." He shook his head. "Have you finished your breakfast?"

Reyna nodded, and he stood up, cleaning up the plates. "Well then let's get ready to school."

The girl seemed to notice something was wrong. She kept stealing glances at him to try to guess what made him acting so weird, sometimes Reyna even squeezed his arm to reassure him, and Gwil's heart melted at the gesture. Ben really did teach her to be a sweet child. If it was Gwil, he wasn't sure if he could take such a good care of the little girl. He loved Reyna, he did, but work took so much time from him he couldn't spend enough time with her. Gwil hated Alexa for what she did, but bringing Ben was something that he was always grateful for. Speaking of Alexa… Gwil knew he told the woman to never get near his family again, but he couldn't help wanting to call her to ask about Ben. Maybe she had something about why he disappeared. Gwil needed to know.

"Be nice with your friends and teachers." He kissed Reyna's hair before letting her go. 

He quickly pulled out his phone to call Alexa, fingers tapping on the wheel impatiently. What if she didn't pick up? What if Ben's disappearance had something to do with her? If he could pick up just one suspicious thing from her voice, he would drive there to search for Ben. She was the only one holding grudge against him, it could be her.

"What other horrible words do you want to say to me now, Gwilym?" Alexa scoffed into the phone, and Gwil sighed. She seemed angry. She should be, given how they ended things.

"Not now, Alexa. I have a problem."

"Does it have anything to do with Reyna?" The woman asked, voice cold, and Gwil hesitated.

"Well, no--but--It's Ben. He's missing, and--"

"Then it's not my problem. Call me the next time something happens with Reyna." Alexa ended the call after that without even a second to listen. Gwil groaned. He tried to think if she was the one capturing Ben, but from the nonchalant way she spoke about the Synth, seemed like he was the last thing in the world Alexa wanted to think about. 

Gwil had been with her for years. He knew she wasn't hiding anything when she said that Ben missing wasn't her problem. So he just sighed and headed to work. When he came home after, he could file a report to the police so they could start to look for the Synth. 

A man yelled an insult at him when he lost his focus and splashed a puddle at him with his car, but Gwil just didn't care. He subconsciously drove to his lab, trying to recite some of his speech to distract himself. Ben wasn't here, but his job couldn't wait. He promised himself that right when the whole thing about that project was finished, he would go on a full search for Ben. Sometimes the dream last night made him shiver. It reminded him of a world without Ben, and even though he only tasted for a minute of it, he couldn't handle it. It was hard to accept losing Ben when you had had everything.

"Hi, Stu." Gwil tried to smile when he saw the middle-aged security guard waving at him at the gate. The man had been here since before Gwil was given a job in the lab.

"Hey Gwil!" Stu grinned at him and pressed the button to open the gate. "Coming in alone today? Where's the Synth?"

Gwil took in a sharp breath. "He's--not coming in today. He told me to say hi to you."

Stu nodded as Gwil drove inside. He parked the car and got into the elevator to the lab. He couldn't wait to get this done. 

When the door opened and Gwil got inside where the entire board of directors of Colewell Industries were waiting for him, he knew something was wrong. They were all staring daggers at him, like he did something horrible. And Colewell, who was standing at the end of the room with his arms crossed, glared at him.

"Finally, Dr. Lee. Here you are. We've been afraid that you'd disappear." Colewell marched towards him, and Gwil blinked rapidly in shock.

"What? What are you talking about? I'm here to tell you about the solvent formula I finished building with Mazzello. We arranged a presentation."

"Really? Turn this thing on and tell me about then." He growled, and Gwil walked towards the computers. He stored all of the formulas and the whole project in these CPUs. Gwil typed in the password under the piercing gazes of the board, not sure why they came at him like that.

His heart dropped.

He found nothing. Why--How--There wasn't anything there. The data was empty. He started digging up every single folder, but all of the information about the project he and Joe worked so hard on was completely gone.

"I--I have no idea--"

"Look at this." Colewell turned on the security camera software. All of the cameras were broken just like the one at home, but among them, one single hidden camera showed everything. Colewell moved it backwards until 1 a.m. last night. Gwil's eyes widened as he saw a man opening up the door to approach the computers with a staff ID card. The man plugged in a USB and did something on it for a while, before turning everything off and left with the USB.

That man was--

"I believe that was your Synthetic, Dr. Lee." Colewell said, eyeing Gwil's terrified eyes. "He got in by using your ID card and got access to the information through your password. Just as we were informed by the main server, all of the data was gone and there's no way to restore them except for finding that USB."

"I--There has to be an explanation for this--"

"No, Dr. Lee. See, last night, I believed you sent the Synth here to steal the project to sell it to other companies. But I asked Mr. McLean here to contact different Synthetic companies, and we ended up finding out your Synthetic is stolen and smuggled and probably reprogrammed illegally. You're using a faulty Synth, and you didn't do anything about it."

"Mr. Colewell, there's no way I--He went missing since last night, and--"

"We were about to call the police to arrest you for this, but turned out it's just your irresponsibility that costs us our entire project." Colewell said, looking up at the rest of the board. "So as we contact the police to handle finding your thief of a Synthetic, we're here to announce that you're fired."

What? 

"You should be grateful that we don't want to sue you for this." A man from the board muttered. "You just lost us billions."

"You can spend this morning to pack up your things." Colewell and the board started leaving through the door, leaving Gwil frozen in place. "When Mazzello comes back, we'll have him redo the project with another scientist."


	26. Clue

Gwil couldn't sleep. He couldn't do anything without thinking about how he lost Ben, how he lost his job, and Joe, his best friend, didn't answer his phone. He knew Joe was having a fun time with Allen, but he didn't expect his friend to just ignore him like that. Like when Allen was there, Gwil didn't matter. 

He was getting desperate. The hollow feelings grew inside of him like an empty hole, swallowing all hope and happiness. He could barely keep his calm, but still had to lie to his daughter's face everyday. The girl knew something was wrong with Ben missing, but she decided to stop asking about it when she saw Gwil's miserable face. He clearly wasn't a very good actor, because she could see right through him. She kept giving him hugs and kisses and reassurances out of nowhere, and he just wanted to cry. His baby daughter even knew how to deal with this more than he did.

He didn't want to tell Brian and Roger. The two were on tour in probably the other end of the Earth, and the last thing he wanted was to make them run back here to check on him. Sure, he lost his job, but he had enough savings to go for another thirty years without working. He just hated that he lost so many things that he loved in just a day. Ben, his lab, his project. Reyna was the last thing that kept him sane until now. 

A thousand questions kept floating inside his head when he was trying to cook, when he was showering, when he was in bed. He couldn't understand what happened to Ben. There had to be something wrong with him, he trusted Ben enough to know that. Gwil wanted to find out, he did, but the tape of Ben breaking into the lab in the early morning was confidential. He couldn't get his hands on it, now that he was fired. He tried pulling every string he had to try to get it, but Colewell was determined not to let that news get out. He hit a dead end. The first time he watched it, his whole surroundings were spinning with the shock and terror. He didn't have enough consciousness to see if Ben was acting strange, if he even knew what he was doing. But Gwil knew the Synth didn't betray him. He loved Ben, for God's sake! And he believed that Ben loved him back! He loved Ben. He did. He loved the Synth more than anyone before him, he missed everything that had to miss about that beautiful, gorgeous creature of human intelligence. There was no way Ben wanted to hurt him like this. There was no way…

Gwil got out of bed and decided to just wander around aimlessly. He intended to go to the spare bedroom to try if he could sleep there instead, but somehow, after a while of walking, he realized he stopped in the kitchen. Gwil laughed bitterly at himself. He was lost in his own house and his own life. What could be more pathetic? He hated going into that place, but he had to, because home cook food was always better for Reyna than eating out. He had to take care of her like Ben did, but he minimized the amount of time spent there so the less he wanted to burst into tears because Ben wasn't there with him, the better. Gwil thought for a minute, not sure if he should get in, but then after a second, he just shrugged and stepped in. Maybe just feeding the fish a little wouldn't hurt him too much. 

Gwil walked over, trying not to look at the spot Ben usually stood to plate his five star restaurant dishes. He had had enough. He just wanted a break. Gwil picked up the bottle of fish food and stepped to the fishbowl.

Suddenly, something caught his eyes. A small note on the counter. He couldn't help his curiosity, and looked at it. Ben's impeccable Times New Roman handwriting was on it. 

Gwil,  
Be careful with the #B0404B4 fish. It's Reyna's favorite. Just leave them alone, I'll take care of them.  
Love you.

Gwil's vision blurred with tears. He threw the bottle of fish food down the floor, his whole body trembled in quiet sobs. He leaned on the counter for support, hands squeezed into fists. Fuck, he couldn't… He had to do something, really do something instead of just laying around pitying himself like this. Someone did this to him. Someone took Ben from him, making him steal the formula from the lab to get him fired, and now that someone was probably doing a thousand different horrible things to Ben. Gwil had to find out the truth. He had to find another way to save Ben, no matter what he had to do, and then tear the asshole who kidnapped him into a million pieces.

.  
.  
.

The expression on the woman's face was pure shock when she opened the door and saw him. The shock quickly turned into hate and anger as she got out and closed the door behind her.

"What do you want from me, Gwil?" Alexa groaned, she rolled her eyes. "If it's anything to do with your dumb Synth--"

"Shut up and listen." Normally, Gwil would argue, he hated seeing her acting like Ben was some disgusting object and she was somehow better than him. But now that he had lowered himself enough to even come to her, he obviously didn't care. And weirdly enough, she did shut up. "Ben is missing, and I need your help, Alexa. This is important to me. He's important to me. I need you to give me the place you bought him--"

"What? I thought you were joking. He really went missing?" The woman furrowed her eyebrows. She looked concerned. "How? No Synth is suppose to do that. You should call Persona and--"

"Okay." Gwil took in a deep breath. "Here's the thing, Ben isn't a Persona Synth. He's illegally reprogramed."

"It's impossible." Alexa blinked. "I bought him! He came with all of the legal papers."

"Well, after noticing his strange actions, I decided to look up on Persona's website to check his serial code and turned out he's stolen. He was manufactured by Persona, but when he was bought by a customer, he was stolen and the thieves brought him to their place to install their illegal programs on him." He explained. "And they resold it to you."

His ex wife couldn't believe in what he said. She took a step back, let out a gasp. "God, no wonder he--no wonder he's so cheap. I knew it! I knew something's not right! Why haven't you gotten rid of him yet? Call his manufacturer! Get a refund or another good Synth!"

"It's the problem between him and me, Alexa. I can only tell you that somehow the program - I think - messed with him the other night and took control of him. I think that's why he left. I have to get him back."

The woman huffed, before opening the door to let him in. "Get inside and tell me everything that went on with him. You're not saying the full truth and from what happened the last time we encountered, I want to be respected with the truth."

Gwil sighed and slowly followed her into the house. She was probably staying with her new boyfriend, the house was smaller than his and Reyna's, it's not as elegant and high end as theirs, but it looked tidy and cozy enough. She seemed to be having a good time with her life. Gwil walked in and sat down on the sofa. She poured them both some tea and sat down facing him.

"Tell me what happened between you and him."

"Why do you need to know this?" Gwil almost snapped. He was in a dangerous situation, Ben could be facing death any second, and the last thing he wanted was to waste time telling his personal stories to his ex wife. "It's none of your business."

Alexa crossed her arms. "Alright, Gwil, here's the thing. I know what you want. You want me to tell you who I bought that synth from, so you can track him down and force him to find the Synth for you. But I'm not saying that before you tell me why you're so desperate to find it. Couldn't be because of the sex. I know you."

Gwil wanted to groan. Was he that obvious when it came to Ben?

"Fine." He cleared his throat. "He's… You're not going to believe this, but… The program that the thieves used on him gave him feelings. Like real humans. He loves me, and I love him back. I have to find him."

Alexa pulled back, staring at him with wide eyes, gaping. 

"Listen, it doesn't matter. It's my personal business, and--"

"It's not just your business if you're living with Reyna!" Alexa cut him off, her eyes wild. "I wouldn't care less if you turned out to be this crazy robot lover all on your own, but you're raising her! She can be severely affected by this!"

"She's not. Ben loves her, he takes care of her and teaches her to grow up into a good girl." Gwil tried to make her understand, but seemed like it was all in vain. "You know I have to go to work, I can't take care of her as carefully as he does."

"Then let her live with someone who has enough time to take care of her." The woman glared at him. 

"She chose me, Alexa, and you'll never get her." Gwil growled, but Alexa didn't budge.

"You've gone insane, Gwilym. All of these things about the Synth having feelings, it's your imagination." She laughed bitterly and talked like she was trying to explain a math problem to a five year old child. "And you're twisting Reyna's awareness following your crazy thoughts."

It dawned on him what she meant. She didn't believe him when he told her about Ben. Of course he expected this, but he didn't care. He just wanted to have a piece of information to follow and try to get Ben back. But Alexa wanted more than just to tell him he wasn't sane, no. She wanted to have custody of Reyna. She wanted to take Reyna with her.

"You know nothing about any of us. And you'll never have her custody." He stood up, marching towards the door.

"Wait."

He turned around, and saw Alexa fumbling with the hem of her shirt. "I… The one I bought the Synth from must have pretended to be a retailer from Persona. I trusted him with the fairer price, so I didn't really look into him, but when he came here, the delivery called to his house and announced that something he bought had come."

She looked around for a pen and a napkin to write down the address, and gave it to Gwil. "Here. That's what I heard."

Gwil took the napkin, looking at the address. "Do you remember what he looked like?"

Alexa furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not sure, he's… His accent is American, but he looks a little Asian, like from the Middle East or something. Brown skin, grey eyes, dark hair. He's thin, looking around our age."

Gwil nodded and stuffed the napkin into his pocket. "Thank you."

Alexa didn't say anything when he got out of the house and closed the door behind him. He took out his phone to check on the address on Google, and to his surprise, it immediately gave him an exact result. It was an office of a therapist, whose photo was right on top of the results. She was a young gorgeous woman, with short wavy blond hair and a warm, lovely smile. On top of the website, there was also a photo of her office, and her name was the biggest one on top.

Dr. Lucy Boynton's therapy


	27. Therapy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, sorry for the delay! I'm back with this fic now!

Gwil took in a deep breath before ringing the bell. He tried not to let his heart pound too hard in his chest, but he couldn't help it. He took a huge risk coming here in person even though he still had no idea what he was doing.

Now that Gwil was unemployed, he could spend his entire time planning on trying to find Ben. He had to keep it from his parents and Reyna, but fortunately, he had no friends other than Joe, so he didn't have to lie to a lot of people. Joe still hadn't answered any of his texts or calls, but Gwil found out that the place he and Allen visited in Argentina didn't have many phones or wifi signals, so he decided to just handle things alone. Joe deserved a break after dealing with so much of his shit, and he shouldn't be ruining his best friend's relationship. If he tried harder, maybe he could make all of this go away before Joe came home. 

Gwil had spent weeks spying and collecting information about Dr. Lucy Boynton's office and trying to find the ties between her and the one selling Ben to Alexa. He asked for favors to have some information on her, called her former patients to know more about her, and spent days and days watching the house, building her schedule. Lucy Boynton was a great therapist, according to her patients and colleagues. She was compassionate, understanding and extremely diligent. Everyone loved her. And he didn't believe in any of that for a bit. There was no way such an amazing person had anything to do with a thief. She must have known something, or worse, everything. Gwil watched her for so long he even had a map of all of the cameras and the external structure of the house. But weirdly enough, he never saw the man Alexa described coming in or out of the house. Alexa said he took a call from the delivery, it means he had to live here with Boynton. He couldn't be staying anywhere else. And even if he did, Gwil would have known with all the time he spent following her and spying on her. 

Now all Gwil had left to do was actually approaching her to see what she knew. 

“Hello, are you Will Westbrooke?” A soft voice came from the doorbell camera. 

“Yes, I’m having an appointment with Dr. Lucy Boynton?” He asked, tried to sound as casual as possible with the fake name. He figured it was better not to let her know who he really was.

“Come on in. I’m right in the room at the end of the hallway.” The door opened after a small beep, and he walked in to see that it was indeed, an automatic door. No one else was there besides him, and behind him, the door slowly closed. Why didn’t she come out to greet him? It somehow felt like he was the main character of a horror film.

Gwil walked across the hallway, spending the few minutes to look around, taking in all of the details he could find. Usually in places like this, he would see some pictures hanging on the wall and they could be the clues to more of this woman, but strangely enough, he found nothing. All of the walls were empty, only covered in plain wallpapers. He took a deep breath and walked faster.

“Hello, Will. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” When he walked in, Lucy Boynton was already waiting for him in her seat. And that was when he realized what was wrong about this entire situation. “I’m still not very used to the darkness, so walking around can be rather dangerous for me.”

She was… She was blind. Gwil stared at her in confusion. And horror. He saw a photograph of her on the website, and her eyes clearly looked more alive than this. She had bright green eyes, somehow reminded him of Ben’s, and even when he could only see her through some rare photos on seminars and ID photos, those eyes were almost one of the reasons he had his guards up high with her. They couldn’t belong to a mediocre person. She was more than just smart.

And now her eyes were just a dull glassy hue of what they used to be. Gwil knew that blind people weren’t rare, but he couldn’t believe that Lucy Boynton was.

“I suppose you’re still very shocked.” The woman gestured him to sit down on the couch next to the chair she was sitting in, and he awkwardly sat down. She had a neutral expression, but some of the sadness seeped through her collected calmness. “I’ve gotten engaged in an accident recently, and unfortunately… It took away my ability to look. I promise it won’t affect the quality of our session, if it’s the thing that worries you.”

“Uh… No, of course not.” Gwil swallowed, not knowing what to say. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been through.”

“Thank you for the concern, Will. I appreciate it.” She smiled. “I’m having a few people here to help me with my work, now that it’s a little more difficult for me, but Adria is calling in sick for today, so please forgive me.”

“I… It’s okay.” He nodded, crossing his arms together. He was so sure that she was the villain, or at least an accomplice, that ever since the first moment he searched for her, he never cared about anything else. Gwil had been angry for weeks. He didn't stop thinking about Ben and what might happen to his boyfriend, all the anger kept bubbling inside him, making it hard to even consider the fact that Lucy might be a human. In his pained perspective, she was purely evil and cold blooded demon and he was here to shake the truth out of her sinister head. But now, seeing her like this, vulnerable but still had so much trust in a stranger like him, he was taken aback. 

"Alright, shall we start our session?" She gave him an assuring smile before reaching around to find her recorder. Gwil picked it up and gave it to her. "Thanks, Will."

"You're welcome." He mumbled. The room around him was just as empty as the hallway - there was no decorations, no flowers or vase or anything more than necessary. Everything was plain beige, and as simple as a room could be. He guessed not being able to see anything meant not bothering with those things anymore.

"Alright, so how about you start telling me about yourself and the problems that bring you here?"

"Okay." Gwil nodded. It doesn’t matter if Lucy was an angel - she was the only thing that could lead him to Ben, so he had to try everything to get some information out of her. He had a story prepared to make sure that he had enough time to look around, finding for clues. Seemed like looking around was so much easier now. "I was born in the Wales, came here to get into university, and now I'm having my own business."

"Oh? What do you sell?" She asked curiously.

"Energy drinks." He shrugged. It was a harmless choice, and he knew enough about chemistry to make up things about that. "I'm doing quite well. It's stressful, but I can handle it."

"That sounds wonderful. So how about your family? Are they still in Wales?"

"Yes. My parents are living there. I often come to visit them. They're fine."

"So can you tell me about the things you're struggling with?" She furrowed her eyebrows, focusing on his voice. 

“Well, I’m not straight.” Gwil tried to sound timid and full of worry. It was easier when all he needed to do was wavering his voice. “I’m a bisexual man, and I’m having a relationship with another...man. And my parents aren’t very...happy about it.”

“How did they react when they found out?” Lucy sounded sad as she sat back.

“My father tried to throw his cellphone at Luke. Oh, Luke’s my boyfriend. My mother didn’t do anything, she just cried and sat down and let him try to assault Luke. I couldn’t stand it, so I stopped him and took Luke home. It was bad.” Gwil sighed. “I’ve always… I’ve always admired and loved my parents, you know. They’re saints to me. And now they hurt both of us without a care in the world.”

“How is Luke right now?”

“He left me. He didn’t think there was a future for us, so he just...left. But me… I just… I can’t stop thinking about that day.” Gwil rapped his nails on the table quickly, acting like he was nervous. “I’ve been losing sleep. I just wish that somehow I could have a family, which is not broken or cold or full of hatred. I’ve lost everything now, I don’t have my family or my love, and it’s just--it’s horrible. I’ve been through a few relationships, but none of them worked. I don’t know if it’s my fault or not.”

“I understand, Will.”

“Dr. Boynton, I know--”

“Just call me Lucy.”

“Yes, Lucy, I mean, I know you have lots of degrees on this whole therapy thing, but I just--I don’t think you really understand, this whole relationship thing, oh, not that I’m saying you don’t know anything about relationship, I’m sorry--”

“No, I understand what you mean, Will. And I really do understand relationships and the struggles you’re going through.”

“Really?” Bingo. “Maybe you can tell me something about your story, so I can really see that?”

“Of course.” Lucy didn’t seemed to be cautious at all. Gwil started to take out his phone to start recording her words as well. He came to the conclusion a few weeks ago that the thief who stole Ben had to be her boyfriend. The thief was an Asian, so there was no way they could be siblings, or cousins, or related in any way. They were living together, a man and a woman, in the same house, so the high chances that they were in a relationship. “I actually have a boyfriend, Rami Malek. He’s a wonderful person, really, he’s sweet and kind and funny and we’ve been together for a long time.”

“Doesn’t sound much of a struggle to me.” Gwil narrowed his eyes. The name sounded like it could be the one he was looking for.

“That was before the accident. You know, the accident that took away my sight.” Lucy gave him a sad smile, and he bit his lip. Guilt slightly welled up inside him.

“I’m sorry for making you bring it up.”

“No, it’s okay. I need you to see that you can share things with me.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Rami’s a technician, he works for a company that upgrades and fixes Synthetics.”

It was him. It was exactly him.

“He’s actually very happy and excited with this new project his company gave him about a new line of Synthetic, and one day he took me to one of the tests. Just to look at the thing he’d been working on for ages. He thought it was almost a success.” Lucy toyed with the hem of her dress, eyeing down. “Until the sample Synthetic had some problems, it was insane. I’ve never seen any Synth like that before. It went rouge, and I was, unfortunately, the nearest person, so it kind of attacked me.”

Jesus. It could have been something this Malek bloke cooked up from another stolen Synth out there. His company was funding everything he did, giving him the chances to modify Synthetics. And look what happened to him. If he really loved this woman, he would regret his decision for the rest of his life.

"Rami didn't take it so well." Lucy whispered. "He quit the job there and moved out of this house."

"So you and him are separated now?" 

"Yes." Lucy nodded. "I tried to contact him, but he said he couldn't look at me after what he did to me. He was too guilty to continue this thing between us."

"I'm so sorry, Lucy." Gwil sighed. "It's ten times worse than what happened to me."

Lucy chuckled, wiping away her tears. "So now that I'm telling you I do understand the hardship of being in love, do you trust me?"

"Of course." Gwil gripped her arm gently. "So where is Rami staying now, by the way?"

"I… I'm not sure anymore." Lucy's lips trembled, and Gwil's heart dropped. Poor woman. "He's never going to see me anyway, so…"

Great, so his only lead turned out to be useless now. Sure, Gwil learned tons of things about this person - he knew his name, his abilities, and his past. But not knowing where he was means not having a chance of knowing where Ben was. 

"Can I tell you something?" He took in a deep breath. "Luke didn't… really leave me. I lied. There was a thousand things standing on our way, the whole world could be against us, but he always told me that he would be there for me. And he did, until one day he just disappeared. I couldn't find him anywhere, and I even--saw a note he left. It said I shouldn't feed the fish and he would come back and do that for me. It's like he never had the intention to leave. But I saw the tape from the camera that night and he did get out of the house."

"That was--strange."

"That's why I've been losing sleep. I don't know if he left because he stopped loving me, or because something else happened to him and he's in danger. I'm just so worried, Lucy." Gwil balled his hands into fists. All of the bottled up frustration and desperation now flowing out of his mouth. "I've been looking for him all this time. I--I miss him so much, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"This is getting serious, Will. Have you contacted the police?" 

"I did, but they didn't do anything. They said all of the evidence concluded that he ran away. Left. Because he didn't want to be with me anymore." More like they wouldn't do anything because a Synthetic meant nothing to them.

Lucy sighed and chewed her lip. "I know a lawyer, maybe I can--"

"No, Lucy. I… That's just me being delusional." Gwil quickly snapped out of his mind and came back to the story. It was nice, having someone to tell them how he felt, but he couldn't let Lucy know more than she should know. "I guess I could never believe that he left. But he did, and I have to live with it. I've already caused him so much pain. I never got over him, I keep having these anxieties and paranoia whenever I even think of him, which is all the time, but I guess you'll help me with that."

Lucy nodded quietly.

"Maybe I just need some pills to help with the insomnia. I've already gotten so much better talking to you today, I'm sure a few more sessions and I'll be as good as new." The pills would be useful, since he really did struggle with insomnia these days. Among missing Ben like crazy, worrying about Joe, taking care of Reyna and planning to rescue Ben, he was practically a zombie. He got maximum 3 hours to sleep everyday, and life was starting to get drained out of him. 

"I suppose you do." Lucy agreed. She asked him a few questions about his history with allergies and alcohol problems, before opening the drawer to look for the right medicine.

"Oh, no." She groaned. "I don't have them here. I ran out on the last patient."

"It's alright, just give me a prescription and I'll go buy them."

"No, I actually still have them, but they're in the basement. My assistant isn't here to get them--"

"Then I'll go down there to take them. No problems." He stood up, ready to go down before suddenly Lucy exclaimed.

"Wait! I remember now! I have an unused Synthetic in the basement. I never liked Synths after what happened to my eyes, but I can break the rules this time. I'll just start him with my phone and he'll take the pills for you."

She tapped on her phone a few times, having it reading out loud all the letters to her, and Gwil sat down, waited. This lead was useless, but he could find out more information about this Rami Malek to trace him. He only needed to catch Malek and then all of this would be over. Ben would be back, and his life could go back to the way it was. Just thinking about Reyna's sad eyes whenever he mentioned the Synth made his heart ache. 

After a few minutes, a figure came in through the door and he looked up.

"Here is the medicine you need, Mr. Westbrooke." Ben put the boxes of pills into Gwil's lap, and then returned to his spot down in the basement.


	28. Lost

"Hey. You're awake already?" Allen poked his head in, and Joe nodded.

"Yeah, I'm up. I'm up." He tried to sit up, but his lower half was suddenly so sore he plopped down with a groan.

Allen immediately got into the room, sitting down next to him. "Don't try too hard, you must still be tired. Hotel service is right at the door with breakfast, just stay still and I'll bring it to you, yeah?"

Joe mumbled a yes and Allen placed a quick kiss on his hair before getting out to get the food. He tried to sit up, leaning his back against the headboard and let himself melt into the soft sheets and blankets. Last night was… Well, it was wonderful. Just thinking about it made a blush blooming over his cheeks, but he smiled at himself. God, he never expected anything like it. Sure, he had watched tons of porn and he knew that people had sex on a daily basis, but it was different to him and Allen. The last time he slept with someone was so long ago that last night was like the first.

Years ago, Joe came to the realization that some people don't deserve to have such intimacy with him. Some people were just using him, lying to him and deceiving him for various reasons. That's why he decided to wait. He waited and waited to find someone right - the one that he knew he would have a future with, and that person finally came.

"Alright, we have some very interesting things here. It's not America or England after all, so we have to try something new." Allen came back with a tray of breakfast and put them down in front of Joe, who was smiling at him dreamily. "What?"

"Nothing." Joe shook his head, leaning forward to kiss him. "I'm just glad I made the decision."

"To finally trust me enough?" Allen sat down opposite of him, face brightened with joy. 

"Don't disappoint me yet." Joe gave him a playful glare, and they started digging into the food. They were unlike anything they could find in the US, but it was not bad, and to be honest, he couldn't ask for anything else. The last weeks had been such a dream to him: no pressure, no work, no worries, all he had to do was love and be loved. And the feelings of taking down his own walls to finally welcome someone was the best in the world.

"How are you feeling, darling?" Allen chuckled as he put the dirty dishes away and climbed into bed with him. Right now, their world narrowed down into this cozy bed. The man started running his hands up and down Joe's hips to pretend to give him a massage.

"God, that's not enough for you yet, you animal?" Joe rolled his eyes, but moved towards him anyway. Allen easily pulled him so he lay on top of the man and rubbed his lower back lazily. 

"I recall you didn't have any protest when I was an animal last night."

"You weren't an animal." Joe sighed contently and kissed Allen's neck. "You were very gentle. And very sweet. I loved it."

"I really hoped you did." He nuzzled Joe's jaw with his mouth. "Your trust means the world to me. And I'm so glad you stopped worrying when you're with me."

Joe hummed and slowly drifted off to sleep in his boyfriend's arms. 

.  
.  
.

Gwil had to rub his eyes a thousand times to make sure he didn't mistaken. His heart pounded in his chest when those green eyes looked at him for a second before turning away, leaving him. He couldn't believe it, but it was true. That was Ben. His heart soared. That was Ben!

"Wait!" He stood up from his seat, running towards the Synth, and Ben halted in his way. He slowly turned around and stared up at him. God, he looked just like the day Gwil last saw him. Still that gorgeous face, still those transparent green eyes and soft lips. Gwil reached out to pull him into an embrace, trying not to let himself turning into a sobbing mess.

"Will? What's wrong?" Lucy asked from behind him, puzzled. She clearly couldn't know what exactly he was doing, but she must have felt something off.

Ben's body was rigid against his. Both of his hands braced against Gwil's chest, and the man had to let go of the hug. But it didn't stop his tight grip on the Synth's shoulders. He didn't think he could let Ben go again. 

"Ben?" Gwil whispered, raising hand to cup Ben's cheek, voice hoarse with tears. His hands trembled as he traced his fingers along the lines on Ben's face, his jawline, his cheek, his nose, his lips, everything that was imprint in Gwil's memories, but still left an empty hole in the man's mind. 

He had no idea how this happened, how Ben could be here, but at that moment, all he saw was the one that he loved.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Westbrooke, there must be a mistake." Ben replied, voice even and emotionless. "I haven't been given a name yet. My serial code is AO7BH3. I will only respond to the names given by my primary user Miss Lucy Boynton and Mister Rami Malek."

"Will?" Lucy asked again, and Gwil turned around. She was holding her phone in her hands, staring into a void, but clearly trying to work it out. "What's going on?"

Gwil turned back to look at Ben, and his heart squeezed. He whispered frantically, not wanting to believe he was hallucinating. "Ben, please, what are you talking about? Don't you remember me? I'm Gwil, I'm your boyfriend. I love you. We love each other. Come on, Reyna's waiting for us home."

"I am AO7BH3. I cannot respond to the name Ben." The Synth repeated, eyes so empty and distant Gwil stopped wanting to breathe. No.

"Where did you get him? How did you have him?" He marched towards Lucy, tears starting to gather in his eyes. He was panting with rage now - That was Ben, that was his Ben, standing right there in front of him, and what the hell happened to him? Ben's serial code wasn't that!

"Will, calm down." Lucy tried to sooth him.

"Please, Lucy," He gasped in shallow breaths, frightened. "Where did you get him?"

"I…" The woman looked scared, too. She was just as clueless as he was. "Rami gave it to me. He bought it from somewhere and he left it here. He--he told me not to activate it but I--"

"He told you not to activate him?" Gwil's brows furrowed. It was him again. It was Rami Malek. He did something to Ben, and now that he couldn't take Ben with him without being spotted, he left Ben in the basement.

"Yes." Lucy nodded. "He told me this Synth is a used one he had passed down from a family member, and he couldn't refuse it, so he left it here. I didn't feel safe with a Synth here, but he took out its old core hardware and smashed it. Right in front of me. He forgot to take it with him when he left."

"What?" 

"And then he replaced it with a new core. That way… That way, he said, makes sure this Synth isn't contaminated by any virus or error."

Gwil stared at Ben, but everything was cracking in his vision. It wasn't… It wasn't Ben anymore. Now that Malek destroyed the core himself, it means…

"Fuck." Gwil clawed at his own arms, trying to distract himself from the gnawing of his insides, but he couldn't. His throat closed in as he tried to breathe. "Fuck, I--I can't--"

"Will, Will, please, listen to me." Lucy quickly searched for the box of pills on the table, pouring out some water. "Here, take these. Take these, and then try to breath for me. You're not breathing."

He reached out, taking the pills and swallowed it dry, not bothering with the water. It did nothing at first. He still felt like he was falling and oxygen was running out in his lungs until a pair of hands placed themselves on his back and chest and gently rubbed it, pulling him back to Earth. Slowly, the pills kicked in and his stomach didn't feel like it could jump out of his throat any moment. Gwil's vision got clearer and he realized whose hands were on his chest.

"Stay away!" He yelled, voice broke, and pushed Ben away. No, that wasn't Ben anymore. That was just a Synth, a boring, lifeless, emotionless Synth, with the outer shell of Ben. Nothing compared to the real Ben. The one that was crushed under Malek's feet.

Lucy looked horrified. She should be, hearing him being hysterical for no reason. Her face paled, knuckles tight on the armrest of her chair, but strangely, she didn't try to get away. The woman asked the Synth to stay away with a slightly shaky voice, and waited for Gwil to calm down. She carefully poured him a glass of water and placed it on the table between them.

"Will, how are you feeling?" After a while, she asked, softly. She was a tiny, blind, helpless woman, facing a six feet tall man who lost his mind. And yet somehow, her voice was still gentle. 

"Not good." He rasped, whole body exhausted from the episode.

"You've just had a panic attack, Will." Lucy explained. "The medicine helped, but you need more sessions to get better."

Gwil didn't answer, eyeing the Synth in the corner of the room. It was like a million blades had been sunken into his chest, seeing Ben so close, but knowing that it wasn't the one he fell in love with anymore. The panic from a few minutes ago died down into a deep pain that made it hard for him to breathe. 

"Why did you have a panic attack, Will?" Lucy continued. "What triggered you? It has something with the Synth, doesn't it?"

"Yes." He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. He couldn't look at it anymore.

"Can you tell me what it is?" 

"I have to go" Gwil swallowed, he stood up abruptly. "I need some time."

"It's alright, Will." Lucy pressed her lips together sadly. "Are you sure you can drive home safely? I can arrange a lift for you."

Or worse, make this monstrosity of a Synthetic drive me home. 

"No, thanks." He turned around and was about to walk out, but stopped when the Synth stepped over to lead the way. The same hand that used to hold his, now holding the door for him as he left, as if Gwil was a complete stranger. The Synth gave him a plastic smile, the one that no matter how many times he looked, he couldn't find a trace of his Ben left. Even when Ben tried to be just a Synth, there was still life and warmth inside it. 

"Please drive home safely, Mr. Westbrooke. The next appointment should be made through email." The Synth closed the door.

Gwil slammed a hand on it before it could close.

"Is there any problem, Mr. Westbrooke?"

Gwil stared at the Synth. The core had been changed. The code was new. This was a new Synth now. 

He pulled the Synth by the chest towards himself and kissed it. Devoured its familiar lips, trying to remember the feeling of doing this for the last time. Tears ran freely down his cheeks as the lips no longer responded him with a smile, with an eager kiss, or a soft whimper, like they always did. And then before the Synth could protest, he let go and left, not bothering with looking back.


	29. Despair

"Daddy, are you okay?" Reyna's sweet worried voice made guilt surge inside Gwil's stomach, and he wanted to throw up. 

"I'm--I'm alright, sweetie." He pant, trying hard to not make a mess in the room. He was the only adult here, after all, if he was the one messing things up, Reyna could never look after him. But right now his whole body felt like hot lava burning in every cell, and it hurt everywhere. He wasn't sure if he could get up.

"No, you are definitely ill. I made some eggs for you." Reyna placed a small tray of food with scrambled eggs and vegetables in front of him, making his eyes widen in surprise. "I called Mommy, but she didn't pick up, so I'll call an ambulance to take you to the hospital."

She looked so serious Gwil had to let out a laugh despite his sore throat. The laugh was breathless, hoarse and weak. "No need for an ambulance, sweetie. It's for emergency. I'm just having a cold."

Reyna's blue eyes gazed down at him with so much sadness Gwil hated himself for being such a horrible father. Right now when Ben was gone and Alexa was busy and Joe was nowhere to be found, he should be the one taking care of Reyna, of everything. And instead, he let his sorrow drown him and turn him into a pathetic pulp. He sighed, looking at the plate of scrambled eggs. It looked absolutely amazing, exactly like how Ben usually cooked it for them, brightly yellow and had the most appealing smell in the world, even to his blocked nose and sore throat. Gwil swallowed, and struggled, but finally got up and picked up the fork.

"It looks wonderful, sweetie. Did Ben teach you this?" He asked, voice shaking a little, as the familiar taste cleared his senses.

"Yes, he also taught me a lot of things!" Reyna nodded. "I can clean up the house and cook and look after you. Dr. Boynton said she will stop by to check on you."

Blood froze in Gwil's veins. "Dr. Boynton?"

"Yeah, you go to her every Thursday, right? You skipped it the entire month, so she is worried."

Gwil closed his eyes and took in some ragged breath. He ended it with Lucy Boynton the other day, he made sure of that. Going to her office and thinking about the moment he saw Ben, no, the shell of Ben, there, was awful. It made him even sicker than he was now, and he couldn't let that happen. 

"Daddy, please eat some more." Reyna pushed the plate towards him, begging, and he wanted to cry. 

Reyna was so young. She was tiny, she deserved to have parents who loved her and protect her and lift her up, not a broken man of a father who couldn't even get up from his bed. If only Joe was here, or even Alexa… Or Ben… God, he had never felt so alone. He tried and tried to call Joe every night, but it was like he was in another world. Gwil did receive some text from Joe from time to time, but everytime he tried to respond, the connection went bad. Seemed like Joe and Allen were having the best time of their lives in Argentina, and knowing nothing about what he went through. Alexa was building a new relationship and he couldn't get in between them, so he stayed silent. And Roger and Brian were too far away. Telling them would be useless.

The images of Ben's core being smashed that his brain made up kept popping up in his thoughts, destroying him slowly everyday. The expressionless face that he used to cherish more than anyone else in the world, now haunted his sleep at night, keeping him awake and exhausted. He allowed himself to cry as freely as he wanted, and he was so dehydrated he stopped being able to. Some virus jumped in just when Gwil was the most vulnerable - couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't do anything without thinking of what he lost - and he came down like nothing. 

"Reyna, I need you to help me with something." He croaked, looking at his daughter. The girl immediately got closer. 

"What is it Daddy?"

"I don't want to see Dr. Boynton right now." He sighed. "I'm not feeling good, but I can handle it. She doesn't have to come here."

Reyna pouted, her eyes sad and almost watering. "But she's a doctor!"

"I told you sweetie, I'm fine." He stroke her hair, glancing at his plate. God, Ben had taught her so much. "I just need some time to recover. We have the pills already."

Reyna mumbled something, and he chuckled slightly at her petulant attitude. "What is that?"

"My teacher said taking pills without the doctor's advice is dumb." She said, and he rolled his eyes. He hated that she was right.

"Listen to Daddy. Tell Dr. Boynton to stay at home, I'm already tired enough not seeing her." He cleared his voice. "I'll be better tomorrow. I promise."

"You can't promise that." Reyna shook her head. "You can't control the virus or your immune system."

Okay, now Ben taught her too much. 

"Just listen to me and be a good girl." He said, finishing his eggs quickly and gave the empty plate to her. It was the first healthy thing he ate after a really long time, and all the proteins were seeping into his body, releasing some of the fatigue.

Reyna obediently brought the plate away and a few moments later, he heard her on the phone, telling Lucy Boynton not to come. From the distance, he couldn't make out the woman's answer, but he was sure that it sent the right message. She wasn't welcomed here. Not when the thought of her reminded Gwil of Ben so much it hurt.

He lay down again, resting, feeling himself getting better slowly. He was exhausted, but it had been days since he had a good sleep. He lay on the bed all day drifting in and out of lucid dreams, the images of Ben's smile and Ben's green sparkling eyes took over his vision. Gwil turned over, breathing harshly. He knew most of the horrible things he felt came from knowing that he lost Ben forever and not the real virus, but he just couldn't make himself get up. Before that moment, he was still full of hope. The longer he missed Ben, the more hope he got, the more he wished this could all be over and he would have Ben back with him. Seeing what was left of Ben was like being thrown into a bottomless pit that swallowed him whole. He never stopped wondering what he did wrong for Ben to leave, and to be destroyed like that. Sometimes he wished he never met the Synth at all.

The doorbell suddenly rang, snapping him from the delirious state. He opened his eyes slightly, wondering who would visit. It had been ages since someone last came to his home. Reyna must have ran out to open the door, because after a few seconds, the ringing stopped. Gwil plopped back down on his bed, buried himself in his own despair again. Reyna could handle a guest.

The sound of a person talking came closer, and Gwil's mind warned him that it was coming to him. Reyna's voice blended in with that voice, making it hard to recognize, until it was too late. Lucy opened the door to his bedroom and got in with his daughter on her trail.

Gwil sat up immediately, head spinning. "What are you doing here? Reyna told you not to come!"

"I'm here to check on you, Will. And she's the one calling me to come." The woman said calmly as she sat down on the bed next to him, opening her bag to take out a thermometer. Gwil flinched away.

"What?" He turned his gaze to Reyna, who was hiding behind Lucy's back.

"It's clear that she's the only adult in here." Lucy rolled her eyes, forcing him to take the thermometer and pushed him down on the bed.

"I told you not to do this!" He glared at Reyna's direction, and the girl answered with a tiny voice.

"But you're really sick, Daddy, Ben told me if someone's sick, I have to--"

"Stop doing everything Ben told you!" Gwil snapped. Water somehow welled up in his eyes again. "He's dead, Reyna! Doesn't matter how perfect he was, he's not smart or right enough to survive and come back home to us. Just forget whatever he told you."

"What do you mean?" Reyna's lips trembled as she looked at him. Gwil never told her where Ben was - he just said the Synth had an important work he needed to finish and he had to leave for a few weeks. He was worried that Reyna would be too upset, but now when all of the frustration and lost built up inside him, he just couldn't keep it in anymore.

"Ben is gone." Gwil sighed, turning away. Reyna's eyes started to get red. "Go back to your room. We'll talk about this later."

The girl turned on her heels and ran out of the room, her quiet sobs were like blades cutting into his heart. Gwil took in a shaky breath, turning to Lucy, who was sitting next to him, confused.

"Will, who is Ben?" She asked, and he shook his head slowly.

Lucy looked equally frustrated at his response. "He must have something to do with my Synthetic."

"Whatever you think." Gwil mumbled. Mentioning the Synth was hard enough. He curled in his bed, closing his eyes. "You're not even working in a hospital. You're just a psychologist."

Lucy let out an offended gasp. "Did you really mean I'm not a real doctor and I can't help get you through this virus?"

"You're making me feel worse, for sure." He replied, wincing as he coughed. 

The woman sighed. She crossed her arms and stared at him for a few minutes, concern clear in her eyes, but he didn't bother to care. She was an outsider - she was never a part of this. Well, she could be, considering Ben was in her house, but he didn't care anymore. Sure, there were so many unanswered questions, most of them pointing to Rami Malek, Lucy's boyfriend. Why did Ben leave? What happened to him? Why did Malek have him? Part of Gwil wanted to find out, to understand what took Ben away from him. The other, larger part, just gave up. What good was it to know? He could never bring his Ben back. And he had to go over the thoughts of losing him again. Maybe that was what scared Gwil the most about getting to the bottom of everything. 

"You clearly have a fever." Lucy looked at his thermometer. "When was the last time you eat something?"

Gwil didn't answer. He just looked at her, eyes full of resentment.

"I'm only trying to help you, Will. Your condition right now - the mental burden that you have is making it worse. If you don't share what's bothering you with me, I won't be able to help you."

Silence. Even when drowned in fatigue and exhaustion, Gwil was incredibly stubborn.

"Don't you want to get better, Will?" Lucy leaned down, looking into his dull blue eyes. "Don't you want to look after your daughter again? The girl's trying really hard for you right now, but she's young. She can't be on her own."

"None of your business." He groaned, and Lucy shook her head, defeated.

"You know, I asked Rami about the Synth, Will. I just wanted to know what was different about it that could affect you the way it did." 

Gwil opened his eyes, looking at her. 

"We had an argument - he kept denying everything about it, but I could tell that he was lying. It lasted for days, and I think we've broken up. He went out and never came back anymore."

"Why do you think I care?"

"Because when I basically interrogated him, he slipped. He told me that the Synth was actually stolen, and the core that he smashed in front of me didn't belong to it. Whatever was in the mind of that Synth - Rami still has it."

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are my energy. Please give me more energy!


End file.
